The Big Chill
A luxury tour company is offering sustainable visits to Antarctica
to inner TRAVELING BY AIR Antarctica has become civilized with a new seasonal flight from Cape Town. Until now, Antarctica has been the last unconquered frontier of civil aviation. The driest, highest and windiest continent on earth is also the emptiest, coldest and most inhospitable—and, on top of it all, the most fragile.
A British polar pioneer and world record-holder wants to demonstrate that small-scale, upmarket tourism can be established sustainably in Antarctica. “If tourism is done responsibly and in small numbers, it has an incredibly light amount of footprint, and it could have a huge impact for good,” says Patrick Woodhead, founder of tour company White Desert based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Using solar energy and sustainable fuels and generating its own green hydrogen in Antarctica, the company thrives on bringing sustainability to new levels. “I strongly believe that the kind of clients we take into Antarctica, often CEOs of large companies, very influential people, can create awareness,” says the 48-year-old, who holds polar records such as the fastest crossing of Greenland on skies—in just nine days in 2015—or becoming the quickest and youngest skier to reach the South Pole in 2002. “These people will really care about something they have experienced and have a huge opinion about and passion for Antarctica when they return to the real world. That’s enormously important.”
Luxe A340 Flights
Surprisingly, a 26-yearold wide-body aircraft is enabling his new polar ventures, operated by European wet-lease specialist Hi Fly. First landing the four-engine Airbus A340-300 in Antarctica in November 2021, Hi Fly and White Desert have just finished their third season of weekly flights.
They cover the 2,877 miles from Cape Town to the eternal ice in approximately five hours during the Antarctic summer from November to February, when the sun never sets in the South Polar region. Approximately 15 round trips have been operated each season, and the service is surprisingly reliable given the uncertainties of polar conditions.
“We have pioneered this together with White Desert. We are learning and getting better with each flight,” says Hi Fly’s Captain Adam Latsos, who puts down his A340 on the ice runway at Wolf’s Fang in Queen Maud Land. The 9,842-foot runway on solid blue ice is the only private airfield in Antarctica. Preparing it for a single A340 landing takes up to a week of work by crews using PistenBully groomers, usually seen on ski slopes.
High-End Lodging
White Desert flies approximately 220 tourists each season and provides transport and logistics to support Antarctic research stations of eight countries, carrying an additional 250 scientists.
Wide-body airliners are still rare in Antarctica. Norse Atlantic recently pioneered the first Boeing 787 landing in Antarctica, supplying the Norwegian Troll station, but these flights are one-offs and not open to anyone willing to pay hefty fares.
Small-scale expedition-type tourism by air has been offered for some time, flying on noisy Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft that are also operating from Cape Town. But White Desert elevates the experience to a new level with an A340 that’s still outfitted with lie-flat seats in First and Business Class. The aircraft never takes more than 70 passengers, so it never gets crowded inside.
In Antarctica, the operator runs two ultraluxury lodges, the first accommodation of this kind on the continent. Each caters to up to 12 guests, with lunarlike designer modules, fine dining and wines. That, of course, doesn’t come cheap: A week all-inclusive starts at $68,500 per person, but anyone can go down just for one night and come straight back for $15,950.
Unique Experience? Yes
Any foray into Antarctica is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “It will change your life,” says Woodhead. And it does, even on a onenight stint with just over three hours on the ground.
Rappelling on a blue ice wall, marveling at the white eternity and bizarrely shaped mountains, and even entering an underground ice cave inside a glacier crevasse create unforgettable impressions. But be warned: You’ll catch the polar virus in no time, resulting in a longing to spend an entire week in this outlandish icy wonderland rather than a mere few hours.