Post by AOJ (@OsobaseAOJ)

"Aircraft do not fly according to the straight lines shown on flat maps. Instead, they follow great circle routes, which represent the shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere. On commonly used map projections, these routes appear curved, often bending toward the poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, many of the world’s most important long-haul city pairs are positioned in such a way that the shortest path naturally passes over high latitudes.

Flights linking major airports such as New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND), or Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) often find that a transarctic route. This reduces total distance by hundreds of miles compared with lower-latitude alternatives.

These savings translate directly into reduced fuel burn, shorter flight times, and lower operating costs. Given the routes involved and the geography of their primary hubs, major airlines such as Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways, and Korean Air are among the carriers operating regular transarctic flights.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the geometry works differently. Major cities such as Sydney, Johannesburg, Santiago de Chile, and Auckland are positioned in a way that great circle routes between them do curve southward, but usually not far enough to make an Antarctic crossing worthwhile. In most cases, the shortest route remains over open ocean rather than over the Antarctic continent itself."


Why Do Planes Fly Over The Arctic But Not The Antarctic? https://share.google/YxV5AypQhSw6L47FJ

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