ETOPS - engines turning or passengers swimming
QANTAS has been tooting it's horn about long distance flights but has official announced it's getting 12 A350s that will Sydney-London non-stop which is a 19 hour flight.
I suspect there's also big cost saving to do non-stop
* savings on fuel from take-off/landings/reverse thrust on landing
* landing fee costs when the aircraft has to touch for refueling and all the issues there
* saves cycles on the airframes
* allows more direct routing which increases fuel savings.
* aircraft can't stuck throwing out schedules.
On an Air Canada back flight when they used the 767s between Canada and Australia we were late out of Vancouver which made us late in Honolulul for refuel and crew change. Upon re-boarding the pilot announced we had to hustle or we'd be stuck due to curfew and we made it just in time. Had the plane been stuck it would have caused issues as it was due to fly back to Canada 4 hours after landing in Sydney.
Eliminating having to route further north to land in Hawaii, descent, ascent and time on the ground going direct saves over 2 hours on total trip time.
Oh and the biggest plus? Not having to do U.S customs.
