Solar eclipse-chasers booking seats on North Pole flight

Eager skywatchers are sparing no expense to get the best views of this summer's total eclipse of the sun, with some booking flights around the High Arctic to watch the celestial phenomenon unfold before their eyes.

When the moon eclipses the sun on Aug. 1, it will best be seen from remote parts of the High Arctic in Canada, northern Greenland, Siberia and China.

One U.S. travel group, TravelQuest International of Prescott, Arizona, has already chartered an Airbus A330-200 aircraft to fly from Düsseldorf, Germany, toward the North Pole that day.

That flight, which will have at least 60 passionate eclipse-watchers on board, will circle the North Pole and, if all goes to plan, travel with the eclipse.

"At the appointed time, we are going to intercept the moon's shadow as it is cast upon the face of the Earth, and we will witness this total eclipse of the sun from approximately 35,000 feet in elevation," Travel Quest founder Aram Kaprielian told CBC News on Tuesday.

One passenger booked seats for camera equipment

Kaprielian said the plane will fly with the moon's moving shadow for almost three minutes — a much longer view than what observers will get on the ground, said Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky & Telescope magazine.

Beatty, who will be an eclipse expert on the flight, said the eclipse can only be seen from a narrow area that's about 160 kilometres wide, in mainly remote parts of the North.

"That track goes from extreme northern Canada, skirts the northern coast of Greenland, through the Bering Sea, down through Siberia, ending up in China," Beatty said.

Beatty said there are eclipse-chasers all over the world who will go to great lengths to see an eclipse, including spending thousands of dollars.

Seats on the TravelQuest flight — which Kaprielian said are almost sold out — start at $4,400 US for one economy seat and $7,000 US for a seat in business class.

"We have some people who are buying a single seat," Kaprielian said.

"We also have some people — one single person — that's buying the whole row for themselves, so they can have all of their camera equipment and goodies right next to them and not have to share that window with anyone."

Kaprielian added that the right side of the chartered plane is reserved for eclipse-chasers while the left side is for tourists who want to come along to see the Arctic scenery.