In an Aviationweek topic 'How they flew from Brussels to Hawaii in 1974' I found the following : "The longest scheduled non-stop flight is the polar Brussels-Hawaii flight of 7,327 statute miles (11,791 km) inaugurated on 19 June 1974. The Boeing 747C used requires 14 hours and 39,135 gallons (177,910 liters) of fuel to make the flight thus requiring a reduction of passenger load from 461 to 200."
Which airline operated this flight ? Was it a regularly scheduled one ? Or just one to promote the 747 aircraft ? My personal memories don't reach that far. But I trust Luchtzak members surely know. Anybody ?
This is the answer from the author :
"Dear Sir,
I am afraid that I was wondering that myself.I have not checked, but there is a clue in the equipment type: very few airlines bought the convertible 747. I don’t think Sabena was among them. (It had combis, didn’t it?) The Guinness Book of Records wrote just one paragraph about the service, and I copied all of it into the blog post.Do you think that the service might have been a low-frequency operation, perhaps a weekly one carrying tour groups?
Brad Perrett" Anyone on the forum who knows exactly ?
Maybe Word Airways operated these flights as regular charters. That would explain the originally "high density" seating arrangement of 461(!!) seats. And they operated 747C at that time. I had a look at my BRU reg-books of 1974 but found only WO 747 visiting BRU once. But I went to BRU only rarely then (and now) unfortunately..
Greetings, Diddi
Anybody ?