Polar Nonstop

This polar route ranks clear among alternatives to Frankfurt because it bypasses the Russian airspace closure that forces many other paths to detour significantly southward. The direct path costs less time and fuel than rerouted competitors.

• The flight goes east from Tokyo, not west: across the North Pacific, north of Alaska, over the Canadian Arctic and northern Greenland, then down past Iceland into central Europe.
• It avoids Russian airspace completely, which is why it heads out over the Pacific instead of straight across Siberia.
• No connection — one aircraft the whole way.
• The polar corridor is well over a third longer than the straight line between the two cities. That is the cost of going around a closed sky rather than through it.
• Total trip is around 13 and a half hours.