<P> Aircraft like the Boeing 747 - 400, 747 - 8, 777 - 200ER, 777 - 200LR, 777 - 300ER and Boeing 787 as well as the Airbus A340, A350 and A380, with ranges of around 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km) or more, are required in order to travel the long distances nonstop between suitable airports . </P> <P> Arctic polar routes are now common on airlines connecting Asian cities (Bangkok, Beijing, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo) to North American cities (New York City, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.). Emirates flies nonstop from Dubai to the US West Coast (San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles), coming within a few degrees of latitude of the North Pole . </P> <P> Few airlines fly between cities having a great circle route over Antarctica . Nonstop flights between South Africa and New Zealand, or between Perth, Australia and certain destinations in South America (including Buenos Aires and São Paulo), would overfly Antarctica, but no airline has scheduled such flights . Flights between Australia and South America and between Australia and South Africa pass near the Antarctic coastline . Depending on the winds, the Qantas flight QF 63 from Sydney to Johannesburg - O.R. Tambo sometimes flies over the Antarctic Circle to latitude 71 degrees as well and allowing views of the icecap . Qantas also flies nonstop between Sydney and Santiago de Chile, the most southerly polar route . Depending on winds, this flight may reach 55 degrees south latitude, but other times 71 degrees, which is enough to cross the polar ice cap . The polar route across the remote southern Pacific Ocean between South America and Oceania was pioneered by Aerolineas Argentinas, which began service between Buenos Aires via Rio Gallegos to Auckland in the 1980s with a Boeing 747 - 200 aircraft . Aerolineas Argentinas later operated to Sydney, but ended its flights to New Zealand and Australia in 2014 . </P> <P> Because of ETOPS limitations on twin - engined aircraft--the maximum distance the aircraft can operate from an airport for emergency landings--only 4 - engined aircraft such as the Boeing 747 or Airbus A340 can operate routes near Antarctica . Twin - engined aircraft must fly further north, closer to potential diversion airports; for example, when Virgin Australia operated a flight from Melbourne to Johannesburg on twin - engined Boeing 777 aircraft with a 180 - minute ETOPS rating, the flight was two hours longer than a Qantas flight from Sydney to Johannesburg . Air New Zealand flies nonstop between Auckland and Buenos Aires - Ezeiza; in 2015, government regulators approved its twin - engined Boeing 777 - 200ER aircraft that operate the route for a 330 - minute ETOPS rating (i.e. its 777 aircraft can fly a maximum 330 minutes away from the nearest diversion airport), an increase from its previous 240 - minute ETOPS rating . LATAM Airlines began a nonstop flight between Santiago de Chile and Sydney via Auckland in April 2015 with twin - engined Boeing 787 aircraft with a 330 - minute ETOPS rating . LATAM has announced a nonstop flight between Santiago de Chile and Melbourne to begin in October 2017 . </P>

Can you fly directly over the south pole