Re:An account of a serious medical emergency on a transocean...
by mseebach on Saturday September 03, 2016 @09:09AM
(#12419052)
That path is a great circle path, it's simply the shortest path across the face of the earth. It's not a flight plan or anything (but, being the shortest path, it's pretty close to what any given flight would follow).
http://www.gcmap.com/faq/intro#definegc
Also, because it's so far from land, there are special procedures that need to be in place, see eg. ETOPS.