Aviation and tourism history will be made on New Year’s Eve when a Qantas Airbus A380 super jumbo operates a unique sightseeing flight to Antarctica – the first commercial flight by an A380 over the south polar region, and the only aircraft permitted to do so on New Year’s Eve.
The flight, organised by Melbourne-based Antarctica Sightseeing Flights, will originate in Sydney and fly via Melbourne to reach Antarctica. Passengers will be over the “ice” at midnight and be the first in the world to see the light of the New Year.
The chartered A380 will fly figure-eight patterns above the breathtaking polar terrain for up to four hours before heading back to Melbourne and Sydney.
Two other Antarctic flights are also planned for the southern summer – a second A380 service direct from Sydney on 24 January and a Boeing 747-400 from Melbourne on Valentine’s Day, 14 February. All flights are operated by senior Qantas pilots, with the captain in command having previously operated Antarctica sightseeing flights.
The New Year’s Eve flight to Antarctica will be under the command of Captain John Dennis, who has flown more than 40 of the 85 previous Boeing 747 flights to the ice. He will be accompanied by two other senior pilots for the inaugural A380 journey.
“Antarctica is the world’s coldest, driest and windiest continent, and the fastest, most comfortable way to view it is from the air, which maximises viewing but leaves not a single footprint,” said Antarctica flights founder Phil Asker, whose company has operated 85 Antarctic flights from Australia since 1994, all with Boeing 747 aircraft chartered from Qantas.
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