New Year's Eve party over Antarctica

PENNY STEPHENS/The Age

SIGHTSEEING: More than 400 revellers saw in the new year in a different way, partying and sightseeing above the icy continent of Antarctica.

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A Qantas A380 Airbus has become the first of the giant airliners to fly passengers over Antarctica, taking 450 revellers out of Melbourne to see in the new year, partying and sightseeing above the icy continent.

An onboard jazz band and the singing of Auld Lang Syne saw in 2010 on the chartered jet that flew over ice floes, giant glaciers and craggy, snow-covered mountains as passengers crowded to the windows for the views.

The Airbus, with 24 crew aboard, left Melbourne on Thursday afternoon for the party flight over the land of the midnight sun and returned to the city on Friday morning without flying through darkness.

Passengers gave a round of applause for Captain John Dennis, who notched up his 40th sightseeing flight to the southern continent, his previous missions being largely on Boeing 747s.

He said he loved flying both planes and had an absolute passion for Antarctica.

"Every single flight we do, it's hard to get the grin off your face. Pictures can't do it justice. It's so vast," he said.

"No matter how many times you do it, you still get the same sensation."

Capt Dennis said he gained enormous satisfaction from seeing the joy on passengers faces as they marvelled at the unfolding landscapes of the southern continent, about one and a half times the size of Australia.

He said the A380 was "a beautiful aircraft" to fly.

"Everyone who flies it has an absolute love affair with it."

The sightseeing flight was the third over Antarctica for 77-year-old Neil Ross from Port Macquarie in NSW.

"It's absolutely sensational. I'm quite happy to have a party in the sky at midnight. There's nothing better than the landscape and it keeps changing."

Five members of the First to Fly club were also aboard the double-decker plane, thrilled to notch up another inaugural A380 Airbus flight.

Club member Artemis Shamari, from Manchester in England, said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"It's that history you are never going to have again. I never got a chance to go on Concorde," the 26-year-old said.

- AAP