FlyerTalk Forums - Polar flights?

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- TravelBuzz (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz-176/)

- - Polar flights? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/681061-polar-flights.html)

The "how far north/south" thread reminded me of something I've wondered about: are there now, or have there been in the past, any regularly scheduled commercial passenger airline flights which flew directly over the north or south poles?

Lots of carriers are flying polar routes - I'm sure one or two have passed directly over the North pole! EWR-SIN must get pretty close I imagine.

A quick search on Google can uncover some interesting articles:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1465732
http://www.iht.com/articles/2001/05/...ate_ed3__0.php
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aer...rtunities.html

I don't think there are any flights that come close to the South pole. Or are there any EZE-PER or SCL-PER flights?

SmilingBoy.

My flight JFK-BKK(TG 791) in July 2006 passed right over the North Pole.

Sometimes a few airlines offer spectecular Arctic / Antarctic flights. Just for the purpose of seeing it from above.
Last year Qantas offered those.

I did a Google search for info on flights over the South Pole and I ended up in the FlyerTalk Antarctica forum. Who would have thought that the answer was right here? :D :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timfid (Post 7559110)

in 1999 or 2000, there was a news item about how it was finally possible to fly commerical flights over the north pole and this would cut down flight times by so many minutes. i believe it was an airspace issue and not a technical issue.

there do exist australia/new zealand-south america flights, nonstop on 340 or 747 due to ETOPS. i had fun pricing them on expedia, although i do not know if they actually fly over Antarctica.

Quote:

Nonstop flights between North America and Asia via the North Pole, while long recognized as advantageous, have only now become practical. Increased access to Russian airspace, the gradual liberalization of bilateral agreements, and growing demand for international service to and from China are among the factors that have helped make the new routes viable.

Development of the new cross-polar routes began in 1994 when the Russian government initiated work with the airlines and the international community to establish a series of polar routes through its airspace. By mid-1998, the four cross-polar routes were defined and made available for demonstration flights. The first official polar route flight by a commercial airline was conducted in July 1998. U.S. and Asian airlines then conducted more than 650 demonstration flights under special arrangements with Russian authorities. Today, airlines operate nonstop 747 and 777 service to destinations in Asia via the polar routes.

My husband and I did the ewr to sin flight 2 years ago and nothing matches the experience of seeing the northern lights off the tip of the wings!:D

CO's Newark-Beijing went a touch over 89 degrees N, so, as the other posters have mentioned, I'd imagine any E. Coast-SE Asia flight would certainly get to the magical 90.

During the summer holiday, QANTAS had flights from Perth, Adelaide and Sydney that go over Antartica. They do not stop anywhere - they fly over and then come back. The flights take between 8 and 10 hours from memory. I did it a couple of years ago - it cost $800 for an aisle seat. Middle and Windows were more expensive. This was one flight that NOONE moved seats so people could sit together.

UA 898 (?) iad-pek 4/1/07

didn't go exactly over the North Pole, but the flight deck, wandering into and chatting up upstairs biz gestured out the window and said, "it's just over there..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by coopervanning (Post 7560407)

My husband and I did the ewr to sin flight 2 years ago and nothing matches the experience of seeing the northern lights off the tip of the wings!:D

What time of year was this? We are doing the TG JFK-BKK flight in Feb and would love to see this.

I've been within spitting distance from it on UA 895 ORD-HKG.

ORD-HKG gets pretty close. It is fun taking off at ORD and going due north. You think to yourself, "Isn't Asia West?" :)

Here's a site that maps the great circle route between any two airports.

http://gc.kls2.com/