In 1997, what would the likely Paris–Tokyo route be? Generally, where to gain information on historic routes?

Question

Today you would likely via Dubai, or perhaps take one of the long flights say Zurich -> NRT.

If I'm not mistaken Dubai came to it's current position in early 2000s, so in the 90s it was not the typical international hub it is today. And the longer Europe -> Asia legs were not common.

What would have been a typical route in the middle nineties?

More generally, is there an "expedia of the past"?

As a child (70s) I know all the typical routes, say, UK - Australasia in that era, but they have all changed drastically. Is there any way to find or know the typical routes of past decades? (Other than asking now-old airline staff!)

Answer 1

I think what you want for this question,and other similar ones, are old copies of "The ABC World Airways Guide" .

This image, from a 1991 copy, gives you some sense of what was contained within it https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1E9sPe3jKGQ/Ur7xyNPWerI/AAAAAAAAMTI/9T9ARGBdCDE/s1600/PK+pia+pakistan+1991+1.jpg .

It showed you the points at which a flight landed but it didn't indicate the routes between those points ... I think it's the former rather than the latter you want ?

From googling around I can see large libraries which hold copies of these.

UPDATE: This blog post https://airline-memorabilia.blogspot.com/2013/12/abc-world-airways-guide-1991.html contains a number of other images from a 1991 copy of the guide.

UPDATE2: This is also an amazing, to me at least, resource http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/complete.htm .