They are flying an orbit to burn as much fuel as possible because the aircraft is not able to dump fuel.
Not good engineering.
Sorry Airbus, you failed.
"The Airbus A320 was dumping fuel over the Pacific, said
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050921/ap_on_re_us/airliner_emergency
They've been in the air since 3 -- but 3 what? Pacific?