German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. File photoBERLIN, Apr 29 The plane of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who ended his visit to Japan, crossed the North Pole on the way back to bypass Russian airspace, DPA reports. According to the agency, the plane of the Chancellor Airbus A350 «Kurt Schumacher» crossed the pole at about 13.00 (14.00 Moscow time). The plane flew through Alaska, then turned west and flew over the Arctic Ocean, flew through Finland and reached Germany. The plane thus traveled 12.3 thousand kilometers, it took 13 and a half hours. If the Chancellor had flown via China and then Russia, the flight would have been shorter by one hour and 20 minutes. As recalled by the agency, the sky over Ukraine is closed for flights, and Russian airspace is avoided by Western airlines. Flights over the North Pole are a rarity even for experienced pilots, the agency writes. «It's something exciting. These are things that are rarely done,» Luftwaffe Captain Michael Weierer, who flew the aircraft, was quoted by the agency as saying. This is his second flight over the North Pole: in 2013, it happened to then Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who flew from Laos to New York, and this was the shortest route. To Japan from Germany, Scholz also flew by a detour route. The plane flew over Austria, Hungary, Romania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and South Korea, which increased travel time by two hours.
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