Hi Fly made history on November 2, 2021, when one of its A340s touched down on the 3,000m runway at Wolf's Fang (WFR) in Antarctica. Arriving from South Africa's Cape Town International (CPT), the aircraft, 9H-SOL, was the first A340 to venture to the White Continent. The 19-year-old former Iberia widebody was chosen because of its "exceptional range and four-engine redundancy" - ideal for the remote operation. The aircraft will fly a small number of tourists, scientists and essential cargo to Antarctica during the 2021-2022 summer season. At the controls of 9H-SOL (callsign 'Hi Fly 801') was Hi Fly Vice President Carlos Mirpuri, who takes up the story. The crew assembled and departed the hotel at 5am local. Transportation to CPT took 30 minutes. Processing through the airport took another 30 minutes or so and we arrived at the aircraft around 6:00am, with two hours until our STD (scheduled time of departure). The engineers and ground operations staff had left the hotel an hour earlier, so when we arrived at the aircraft, refuelling was complete, and cargo loading was underway. We expected 23 passengers, and as this was the first flight of the season, most of the ground support equipment that we would need in WFR was in our cargo compartments. The first two sorties were solely for the purpose of setting up the operation ahead of the 2021-2022 summer season. The 2,500nm between CPT and WRF would take us 5hrs 10mins.
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