History Is Made: 757 Plane Lands on Icy Antarctic Runway

Yahoo Travel
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The Boeing 757 after touching down on Union Glacier. (Courtesy: Adam Ungar/ALE)

Landing a large commercial jetliner on the blue ice runway of an Antarctic glacier may sound like a stunt, but get ready to see a lot more of it after this successful test run.

Loftleider Icelandic Airlines landed the first Boeing 757 commercial plane on the blue ice of Union Glacier on Thursday. The test flight, coming from Puntas Arenas, Chile, was a joint effort among the airline, Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, and NAS Corporation Limited and was in the works for seven months.

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Courtesy: Adam Ungar/ALE

In a statement, ALE said it was “researching the potential for utilizing conventional passenger airliners in addition to passenger/cargo combination aircraft. “The Boeing 757-200 ER, fitted with 62 business class seats, will enhance passenger comfort yet maintain the safety of ALE’s activities and aircraft resources.”

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Up to now, the ability to land on the 10,000-foot blue ice runway of Union Glacier had been reserved for less comfortable freighter planes. ALE takes about 500 visitors per season to Antarctica on small-group “Experiences” that include climbing Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest peak, and visitor emperor penguins on the Weddell Sea coast.

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Courtesy: Adam Ungar/ALE

While this landing was the first of its kind on Union Glacier, a commercial jet had landed on Antarctica before – in 2008, an Airbus A319 from Hobart, Australia, to a research station on Casey.

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