Legendary Airports · Antarctica
Antarctica’s Blue-Ice Runways
On 2 November 2021, an Airbus A340 took off from Cape Town, flew south for just over five hours and landed on a glacier. There was no tarmac, no snowplough-cleared strip of gravel, just ice so old and hard that it could take the weight of a four-engined widebody on ordinary wheels. It was the largest airliner ever to land in Antarctica.
The runway was called Wolf’s Fang, in the region of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. The flight, operated by the Portuguese airline Hi Fly for a polar travel and logistics company, showed something remarkable: on the right patch of ice, Antarctica can have airports.
Why the ice is blue
Most of Antarctica is covered in soft snow, useless for wheeled aircraft. Planes landing on it need skis. But in a few places, constant strong winds scour the snow away and expose very old glacial ice underneath. This ice is so dense, with almost no trapped air, that it looks blue.
Blue ice is hard enough to land on, but it’s still ice. Grip is much lower than on a dry runway, so crews plan for longer stopping distances, rely heavily on reverse thrust, and treat crosswinds with great care. Ground teams prepare the surface, marking and grading it before the season.
The real numbers
Wolf’s Fang, 2021
2 Nov 2021
First A340 landing
Hi Fly, from Cape Town
~5 hrs
Each way
About 2,500 nautical miles
A340
Largest airliner
Ever to operate in Antarctica
Wheels
Not skis
Blue ice can take a normal landing gear
The other ice runways
- Troll: Norway’s research station in Queen Maud Land has an ice airfield used by research flights, linking into a wider network of stations in the region.
- Wilkins: Australia’s glacial ice runway near Casey station, reached from Hobart in Tasmania, a flight of about six and a half hours.
- Union Glacier: a blue-ice runway in the interior used by expedition and tourism flights from Punta Arenas in Chile, often by large Ilyushin Il-76 freighters.
Flights only happen during the southern summer, roughly November to February, when there’s constant daylight and the weather is at its least extreme.
An airport with no city
Antarctic runways don’t serve towns. They serve research stations, scientists, and a small number of adventurous travellers. Flying in cuts a journey that can take days by ship through rough seas down to a few hours. It also makes it possible to reach the deep interior of the continent at all. And the Basler BT-67 in the photo above is itself a legend: a rebuilt version of the 1930s Douglas DC-3, still working at the bottom of the world.
Sources & Further Reading
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Can planes land in Antarctica?
Yes. Research programmes and a small number of private operators fly there on ski-equipped aircraft, and on blue-ice runways that are hard enough for aircraft with ordinary wheels, including large jets.
What is a blue-ice runway?
A stretch of old glacial ice where strong winds scour away the snow, leaving hard, dense ice. With careful preparation, it can support wheeled aircraft.
What is the largest airliner to land in Antarctica?
An Airbus A340 operated by Hi Fly, which landed at the Wolf’s Fang runway on 2 November 2021 after a flight from Cape Town of just over five hours.
Can tourists fly to Antarctica?
A small number of specialist operators fly tourists and expeditions to the interior, mostly in the southern summer, between roughly November and February. Most Antarctic visitors still arrive by ship.
How do aircraft stop on ice?
Carefully. Ice offers far less grip than a dry paved runway, so crews plan for longer landing distances and rely more on reverse thrust and aerodynamic braking than on the wheel brakes.