Our Routing
Our comfortable Airbus 330-200 will depart from Düsseldorf for our 12 hour flight over the Arctic to the North Pole and back.
Pictures: Thomas Bujack, Sven Maertens
You can expect an exciting routing through the Arctic on the way to the pole and back, as well as dedicated catering and inflight entertainment incl. Arctic-specific lectures by scientists than join us for the trip.
Pictures: Thomas Bujack
On the way to the pole, we usually overfly Spitzbergen (Svalbard) in cruising altitude. It will depend from ad-hoc ATC permission if we can fly a bit lower. In case of good weather, you can expect interesting views even from higher altitudes.
Pictures: Thomas Bujack
We then continue towards the 90°N North pole position where we circumnavigate the world twice – in both directions (subject to ATC approval from all countries concerned, incl. Russia). At the present location, we will be just as close to Alaska as to the North Cape in Norway. The distance to Northern Canada is only 750 kilometers from here, we are much closer to the American continent now than to Europe.
After having overflown the pole, we continue towards Eastern Greenland and might be able to see parts of its coastline. On some of our previous flights we could overfly the coastline of eastern Greenland, and sights were always spectacular.
Pictures: Thomas Bujack, Sven Maertens
All in all, we will spend about five hours in the polar region, offering you the most spectacular and unforgettable views.
The described routing is subject to wind and weather conditions and the necessary ATC permissions which are always ad-hoc. Anyway, our pilot has several planned routings to choose from to grant best viewing opportunities. Thus, in any case, our captain and the ops department of airberlin will do their best to get permissions from the ATC of up to 8 different countries to fly the best possible route.
Pictures: Publicvision (Lars Bastian), Thomas Bujack
Impressions from the first flights to the Pole
Here are what passengers of our premiere flight on May 1st wrote us after the flight:
"...as a participant of the first polar flight on May 1st, I want to take the opportunity and thank you very much for this SUPER EXPERIENCE. Flight, organization and support service were superb and I am happy to have taken part in this..." (Karl-Heinz S. / Switzerland)
"...this really was a fantastic experience." (Christoph W. / Germany)
"Hello everybody. I was on board on May 1st! It was great, spectacular views of Spitzbergen, Greenland etc. " (Ulla K. / Germany)
"...It was hard to believe, a flight to the North Pole. And then finally May 1st was the day! Our flight was marked in red on the departure board. What will other passengers have thought when reading this? The first flight to the North pole was a beautiful and unforgettable experience and is one of my best travel memories... The preparation and and realisation of this must have been lots of work. All those involved did a good job! What I liked most were the low flights over Spitzbergen and Greenland. This first flight was fascinating. Everything worked out just fine. There is no enhancement to this for me. I was delighted. One interesting feature was the direct transmission of camera pictures from the cockpit into the cabin. This was also unique..." (Klaus Hoyer / Germany)
"Thanks for this beautiful flight and experience on May 1st. Congratulations for the organisation and the entire realisation. You are professionals!" (Filip K. / Slovakia)
Press coverage & media
*** Our eclipse flight on 1 August 2008 was a great successs and has safely returned to Düsseldorf. We thank Captain Heinz and his crew, all passengers, Karsten von dem Hagen and everyone else at LTU/AirBerlin who contributed to this flight and of course Dr. Glenn Schneider and our partners Travelquest, Eclipse-Reisen and Sky&Telescope!!!
First Eclipse Pictures are available in our press section. Reports on this flight will be broadcasted/published as follows:
01.08.2008: Space.com
01.08.2008: Space.com
01.08.2008: SAT 1 News, 02.08.2008; ZDF Heute Nacht, 00:00
02.08.2008: ZDF Wochenjournal, 13:00, Video-Link
02.08.2008: Bericht Westfälische Rundschau
02.8.2008: N24
02.08.2008: Discovery Channel
02.08.2008: Der Westen
03.08.2008: Nordlandseite
04.08.2008: RTL Explosiv (Video-Link)
08.08.2008: Wochenzeitung Die Zeit
*** Our maiden flight returned to Düsseldorf at 21.40 on the 1st of May and was a great success. The flight was filmed - from the flight deck! Watch the TRAILER HERE, and order your DVD: 
