First flight to Antarctica

Antarctica is one of the most difficult places on this planet to visit for the simple reason that planes do not fly there.

Well, that was the truth until last week when the first ever airline touched down on the frozen Arctic surface just four hours after leaving Australia. A beautiful video capturing the historic occasion can be seen here.

So what does this mean for tourism?

Not much, unfortunately. Currently the flights are only used to ferry scientists and gear to the Casey research station. The problem with allowing tourists to tag along is that there is nowhere for them to stay. The Antarctic Treaty would prohibit the building of resorts and hotels. Furthermore, the mere presence of tourists in such an environmentally sensitive area would require studies to measure the impact and the results just might reveal that the Antarctic cannot sustain too many overweight gawkers sporting Gortex and earmuffs.

Filed under: Antarctica, Airlines