After doing some reading ... I realized why explorers have not flown very many polar circumnavigation flights. Time and Cost factors, etc.
Membership in the "over both poles" club is pretty exclusive ! (These are some of the polar circumnavigation flights I was able to find)
1965 - Flying Tiger Line - Boeing 707-349C - Time = 62 hrs - modified with cabin tanks the "pole-cat" carried 40 scientists, guests, and crew.
1968 - Modern Air Transport - Convair 990 - Time = 25 days - Polar Byrd I flight - it was the first aircraft to touch all seven continents.
1970 - Modern Air Transport - Convair 990 - Time = ? days - Polar Byrd II flight - Travelers Century Club - denied McMurdo field landing.
1977 - Pan Am Flight 50 - Boeing 747-SP - Time = 54 hrs - Speed = 487 mph (784 km) - Alt = 43,000 - Ticket cost = $2,222 (120 passengers)
2008 - Global Express - Bombardier business jet - Time = 52 hrs - broke 31 yr old record thanks to perfect planning & shorter fuel stops.
2018 - The Polar Express - Airbus A340-300 LR - Time = Sub 50 hrs - Coach tickets = $11,900 150 passengers with lectures. (Event Canceled)
2019 - Qatar Executive - Gulfstream G650ER - Time = 46 hrs - Speed = 465kt (861km/h) - Distance = 22,422nm (40,170km) - 3 fuel stops.
Cool nostalgic YouTube of the Pan Am 747SP "New Horizons" (N533PA) October 30, 1977 flight -
Flying from the North Pole to the South Pole in an airliner has been done only three times. Find out how Pan Am Flight 50 pulled it off on a long-range Boeing 747SP back in 1977.
www.cnn.com
A Gulfstream G650ER, owned by Qatar Executive, has smashed the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the earth via the North and South Poles.
www.flightglobal.com