Why don't planes fly over Antarctica? Other than the obvious answer (“there is, but the flight is going to land in Antarctica”), the main reason is there's simply too few routes that is both safe and makes financial sense that crosses that continent.

Planes routinely fly over the Arctic but avoid the Antarctic for three main reasons: 1. Geography: 90% of the world's population lives in the Northern Hemisphere. Routes over the North Pole (like New York to Hong Kong) are "Great Circle" shortcuts that save hours of flight time. There are almost no major city pairs in the Southern Hemisphere that would be shorter by flying over the South Pole. 2. Infrastructure: The Arctic is surrounded by landmasses (Canada, Russia, Alaska) with numerous emergency diversion airports. Antarctica has virtually no paved runways or emergency infrastructure; if an engine fails, the nearest suitable airport could be 4,000 km away. 3. ETOPS Regulations: Aviation safety rules (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards) dictate how far a plane can be from an airport. Most of Antarctica is too remote to stay within these limits. Additionally, the extreme cold of the Antarctic can cause jet fuel to freeze (waxing), and the unstable magnetic fields near the South Pole make traditional compass navigation extremely difficult compared to the more "stable" Arctic.