> They avoided flying over China Sometimes it's easier/cheaper to avoid a country's airspace through a slight diversion than pay the overfly costs. Some countr

> They avoided flying over China Sometimes it's easier/cheaper to avoid a country's airspace through a slight diversion than pay the overfly costs. Some country's ATC's can be kinda hostile/annoying/unprofessional/expensive. (I've heard China likes surprise military airspace restrictions that make flight planning annoying). Plenty of routes that don't take shortest path for geo-political & artificial cost reasons (but you don't hear climate change activists raising issues with that much).