How would skipping a stop have a negative influence on emissions? It must be the weight of the extra fuel, but I'm somewhat surprised it adds such a substantial overhead when you're so high up in the sky most of the time.
It's about emissions per passenger. They had to remove seats because of the weight of all the fuel, see the article.
The article explains why. These routes have fewer economy seats.
You're putting much less passengers in the same plane - the extra fuel takes up the space where ~100 passengers would sit if it was done as two flights with a refueling stop.
Thanks, that's much more than what I would have expected.