Airlines Able To Use Santa's Route Directly Over The North Pole

Airlines Able To Use Santa's Route Directly Over The North Pole

For many airlines operating twin-jet aircraft, Christmas 2011 came early as international aviation authorities granted them access to operating over the North Pole for the first time. The new route will not only save airlines millions in fuel costs, but it will also reduce carbon emissions and damage to the environment as well as being able to get passengers to their destinations much quicker and without a stop-over. Providing the twin-jet aircraft meet a certain set of criteria that includes appropriate equipment on the aircraft as well as staff receiving special training. This new ruling allows both Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft to fly anywhere in the world except for a small territory in Antarctica.

This means that you will now be able to fly to Fiji from London in 18 hours as opposed to the 24 hours that it currently takes with a stop off in Los Angeles or South Korea. Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic said that ''This new development really does open up a whole new world and will allow us to take our aircraft to more exciting and exotic places.'' Although this decision was met with joy from most airlines there are a few people in the aviation industry that don't think opening up this new route is such a smart idea. An anonymous employee at an airline made it very clear that although it was all good and well to be able to make a safe landing, passengers are likely to be extremely distraught and cold having to put up with a five-hour diversion on an arctic airstrip somewhere. Sir Richard Branson chose to ignore these statements and said 'imagine the views we are able to give our customers flying over the North Pole for the very first time'.

With the option to shorten routes for many airlines, the consumer is set to benefit by the reduction in fuel costs the airline will inevitably receive, and you would hope that this save in money would eventually reflect itself in the ticket prices. With planes becoming more efficient with fuel and with the opening up of this new route there is no reason to suggest that the cost of flights globally may eventually come down. Although there are obvious inherent risks about flying over the North Pole, with the appropriate safety measures in place, this is more likely to be a huge step forward for the aviation industry rather than a catastrophic failure.