Why don't planes fly over the Antarctic?

This is an interesting question, and there are three reasons why no commercial flight overflies Antarctica: Geography Due to the arrangement of the three populated southern continents, flying over Antarctica wouldn't actually be shorter for most routes. read more

Antarctica is considered off-limits for twin-engine jets even though it's technically"land". This isn't a real roadblock since there are a good number of 4-engine jets that don't need to abide by ETOPS, but it limits the type of plane that theoretically could fly there and thus rules out all but the largest jets. read more

For example, flights going over Tibet are banned due to the mountain ranges in the region. However frequent fliers may not realise that planes also don’t fly over Antarctica either albeit an entirely different reason. Whilst charter flights may still be able to fly over it, commercial airlines rarely do. read more

Why NASA Is Flying an Old Plane Over Antarctica This weekend NASA began flights in and out of Antarctica's McMurdo Station to study the continent's ice sheets. read more