Australia-Antarctica air link opens, complete with ice runway

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

WILKINS RUNWAY, Antarctica (AFP) — A historic passenger jet flight from Australia to Antarctica touched down smoothly on a blue ice runway Friday, launching the only regular airlink between the continents.

Some half a century since the idea of a runway on Antarctica was first raised, the Airbus A319 from Hobart landed at Wilkins near the Australian Antarctic Division's Casey Station, an AFP photographer on board said.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who was among some 20 officials, scientists and media on the inaugural flight, said the view from the cockpit was breathtaking as the plane approached Antarctica.

"To see the icebergs, the small amount of settlement here and nothing as far as you could see in every direction and then this runway appears as if...