From Cape Town, South Africa, to the Troll Research Station on the icy continent, Norse Atlantic Airways has become the first airline to ever fly a Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Antarctica.
After a five-hour flight from Cape Town, the special charter touched down at Troll Airfield at around two in the morning on Friday. The airfield had undergone considerable preparations to make it suitable for such a large number of guests.
The five-year-old aircraft was fully stocked with cargo and necessary equipment for Troll Research Station and other stations throughout Antarctica, in addition to scientists and logistics personnel.
On Monday, the Norwegian scientists departed Oslo for Cape Town, the first of their twelve-hour journey to Troll, boarding the same Norse Atlantic 787. They spent just over a day in South Africa before making the considerably shorter journey to Antarctica.
We’ve arrived! Departing Cape Town at 23:00 we touched down at Troll Station, Antarctica 5 hours later on board the first #boeing787dreamliner to land on the continent #flynorse @BAS_News @OceanSeaIceNPI @NorskPolar pic.twitter.com/AgfPGI8fcP
— Hot Water on Ice (@HotWaterOnIce) November 16, 2023
As part of their yearly research, the scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute will be hot water through the Fimbulisen Ice Shelf.
Although Norse Atlantic presents itself as a low-cost long-haul airline with scheduled flights from Europe to the US and Bangkok, the airline has also been looking for charter opportunities, particularly during the winter when its scheduled route network’s leisure demand is usually lower.
Although Norse’s chief executive, Bjørn Tore Larsen, is sure he can turn the airline’s main low-cost long-haul strategy into a sustainable profit, the airline has recently hired outside “strategic advisors to explore and guide the airline’s future strategic directions.”
