Warm greetings EX! Atlanta-Seoul(Incheon) route has been extremely lucrative for Korean Air. They have been operating it since the late 80's until the present time. It used to be Atlanta to Chicago flight (occasionally Dallas DFW) with a crew change and a non stop flight to Seoul before the Polar Route structure came abouts. The Polar Route is considerably more efficient (Great Circle distance is much shorter in a three dimensional circle or a sphere) and avoids most of the upper level Jetstreams that typically flow from West to East. For instance Jetstreams can be as strong as 150~200 Knots in speed creating the same Headwind Component. Hence if you are operating a North Pacific Route from an East to West course, then you would suffer an average of 100~150 Knots loss in ground speed. Typically the B747 is the fastest commercial jetliner crusing at 86% speed of sound or MACH 0.86 (Mach 0.86 translates to around 500 Knots of True Airspeed at ISA conditions or International Standard Atmosphere at a typical Optimum Flight Altitude for the weight of the aircraft, say 36000 thousand feet).
Needless to say if you were to subtract the headwind component of 150 Knots from 500 Knots True Airspeed, then you will end up with a 350 Knots average Ground Speed. Distance Between Atlanta and Seoul is 6200 Nautical Miles, hence, it will take up to 17.7 Hours to complete the trip deeming it impossible to meet such endurance or range capability of the aircraft. On the other hand the distance using the Polar Route is approximately 5400 Nautical Miles (Great Circle, meaning shorter) with an average Ground Speed of approximately 430 Knots making the non stop flight possible at approximately 13 hours (reason for the higher Ground Speed in the Polar Route is due to the initial Northerly course until 86 Degrees North, 160 Degrees West, avoiding most of the Headwind Component, and then a Southerly Course towards the North Asian Basin).
I did not mean for this to be a novel and off subject, but it is also fun to divert from the intensity of our usual conversations.
Korean Air has also operated the Mighty Airbus A380 with the plushy 94 Business Class seating on the upper deck until they realized it was a huge economical disaster from an operating cost point of view.
In my book the A380 is a technological wonder created by mankind but does not have the efficient craftsmanship manufactured by Boeing.
The B777 also operates out of Atlanta during low season demand. I am glad you are a flying enthusiast (so am I) and always happy to share flying stories. All the best regardless to what our investment beliefs may be.
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