Australian announces first permanent air link to Antarctica

Australia’s civil aviation regulators announced on Tuesday they have given final approval for the country’s first permanent air link to Antarctica, although it will be for scientists rather than tourists.

A licence has been issued for airline Skytraders to fly passengers from Hobart, the capital of the southern island state of Tasmania, to Wilkins aerodrome, near the Australian Antarctic Division’s Casey Station.

The 3,400 kilometers flight is expected to take around four hours in each direction, and “can begin as soon as the airline is ready”, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said.

“Weather permitting the flight to Wilkins ice runway would depart Wednesday carrying scientists and Antarctic Division employees”, Environment Minister Peter Garrett said.

The airline originally hoped to start the flights before Christmas and a test flight was carried out in December, using a new runway carved out of ice which was approved for use only in the last week.

The runway is 4 kilometers long, 700 meters thick and moves about 12 meters southwest a year because of glacial drift. CASA said a number of safety issues have now been resolved, including the ability of the aircraft to return to Australia without re-fuelling, as it cannot do so in Antarctica.

The airline plans to use an Airbus A319 aircraft to carry scientists and other personnel, but has no plans to take tourist. The aircraft could also be used for surveillance of the Japanese whaling fleet.

A Report by The Mole