First Boeing 757 to Antarctica?
Photo: Adventure Network International
Loftleiðir Icelandic, a subsidiary of Icelandair Group, has in recent weeks been operating charter flights to the Antarctic and is one the few airline’s in the world to operate on all seven continents simultaneously.
The three-hour flight, operated on behalf of Polar Services travel agency, takes passengers from Punta Arenas on the southern tip of Chile to Union Glacier in northern Antarctica. Each trip carries some sixty adventure-seeking passengers, eager for the experience of visiting the frozen continent.
The Loftleiðir jet used – named Eldborg, after the West Iceland volcanic crater – is a Boeing 757 aircraft, and it is believed that this is the first time a 757 has landed on the continent. It is certainly the first ever visit by an Icelandic aircraft.
The runway – unsurprisingly – is made of ice, but this poses no problem, according to Loftleiðir Iceland’s SVP for Sales and Marketing Erlendur Svavarsson.
“Conditions on the mainland ice, which is 100 m thick, are perfect,” says Svavarsson. “Our captain Ágúst Håkansson and the other pilots have trained in simulators for landing here. They even say the runway here is less slippery than at Keflavík Airport!”
The fifth and final Antarctica trip of this season – it is now high summer in that part of the southern hemisphere – will be operated in the next few days and Svavarsson hopes the airline will be brought in to run similar flights next year.
Photo: Adventure Network International
