In Antarctica, the operator runs two ultra-luxury lodges, the first accommodation of this kind on the continent. Each caters for up to twelve guests only, including designer modules to sleep in, plus fine dining and wines. That of course doesn’t come cheap: A whole week all-inclusive starts at US$68,500 per person.
White Desert started bringing clients down to the ice in Gulfstream 650 business jets, and they are still coming to Wolf’s Fang occasionally with VVIP guests. But Woodhead never regretted the jump from a small biz jet to a 267-seat airliner. “It’s a lot safer to go on the A340 with return range fuel, so we can go all the way to Antarctica, circle for three hours and fly back again if needed. Our pilots never reach a point-of-safe-return position,” unlike the Russian Ilyushins. “Four engines on this aircraft are super important, if one engine went tech, we are still able to depart,” Woodhead points out. “We would not take an A330 or Boeing 787 or 777, as those twin engines are vast, and if you have an issue, imagine taking that engine off in Antarctica and changing it over, that’ll be logistically horrendous. On the A340 we could still depart on three engines as a technical flight to Cape Town and fix the problem there.”
Especially the enormous cargo capacity of the A340 is a big bonus. “This hold is always full with the amount of scientific material we are bringing in, the amount of food and the defueling, we don’t ever waste a kilogram on this plane.” Defueling at Wolf’s Fang practically means the A340 acts as a tanker, as all ground-based activities at the stations currently run on Jet A1 fuel, before being replaced by more sustainable energy sources soon. Up to 18 tons of fuel sometimes are fed from the aircraft into the fuel system at Wolf’s Fang, much more efficient than hauling fuel over 400 km from the coast, where it gets delivered by ship otherwise.
“The efficiencies of using the A340 are insane, for kind of double the money of a single Gulfstream rotation, instead of twelve people and a little bit of cargo, we bring up to 70 people, 20 tons of cargo plus delivering fuel,” enthuses Woodhead. During the 2023/24 season, the operation has brought about 250 members of station personnel and scientists plus about 220 tourists to Wolf’s Fang, from where they are flown to their final destinations by two BT-67 Turbo Basler aircraft and one Twin Otter.
NOTE: Andreas Speath was a guest on this Antarctic flight
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