Airbus A340 Plane Lands on Antarctica’s Icy Territory For The First Time In History

For the first time in history, an Airbus A340 plane landed on Antarctica. Projected by Hi Fly, a boutique aviation company, the Hi-Fly 801 took off from Cape Town, South Africa on November 2. It took over five hours to reach the destination. The pilot said the landing was made possible on the back of months of preparation.

Notably, there is no airport in Antarctica, but there are 50 landing strips and runaways across the White Continent. There was a makeshift 10,000-ft runway in Antarctica before the landing. This was done to ensure that the Airbus had enough grip to land without the risk of sliding away.

Earlier, in 2020, the Russian Antarctic research station organized a half-dozen trial flights to their 3,000-foot blue ice runway.

Since a majority of people reach the White Continent via ship, the A340 landing on an ice runaway is one of the most interesting and new operations.

As the journey was an overwhelming success, the Airbus A340 can now be chartered to fly a small group of tourists to the white continent along with experts and scientists. They can even carry cargo.