Which airlines fly over the Arctic?

Current flight operations Arctic polar routes are now common on airlines connecting Asian cities to North American cities. Emirates and Qatar Airways fly nonstop from Dubai and Doha to the US West Coast (San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles), coming within a few degrees of latitude of the North Pole.



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There are indeed several airlines operating Polar Flight Routes where Great Circle Navigation provides a benefit (lower cost and shorter flight times). However, airlines or private aircraft don't simply decide to operate over Polar Routes on any given day, they must receive regulatory approval to do so.

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Thanks to the low visibility and undeveloped infrastructure, flying over Antarctica is extremely difficult. Specifically, because of the strong magnetic fields that surround the polar regions, navigating there, no matter how well-equipped the airplane is in terms of instrumentation, can be particularly challenging.

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Currently, the bragging rights for the longest flight in the world belong to Singapore Airlines' New York City to Singapore route. Its longest flight path, which connects Singapore's Changi Airport with New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, 9,585 miles away, takes 18 hours and 40 minutes.

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The Emirates flight from Dubai to San Francisco flies a simple Great Circle route over the North Pole because that is the shortest route (8,112 statute miles), requiring 14 hours 45 minutes flying time.

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You might think circling the globe by airplane is no big deal anymore. But you'd be wrong. Surprisingly, circumnavigating the world via the North Pole to the South Pole in an airliner is a feat accomplished only three times.

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Russia and Alaska are divided by the Bering Strait, which is about 55 miles at its narrowest point.

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The Loganair Westray to Papa Westray route is the shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world. Flights on the route are scheduled for one and a half minutes, and actual flying time is closer to one minute. The record for the fastest flight is 53 seconds.

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Aerodynamic altitude: If a commercial airliner flies too high, it will encounter less dense air passing over the wings to create lift. This can cause the plane to stall and fall out of control. Depending on the weather conditions and aircraft weight, this can occur anywhere between 40,000 and 45,000 feet.

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