Snow Eagle 601 at the airport of the Zhongshan Station, Dec. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Rong Qihan)

ANTARCTICA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's polar flight plane Snow Eagle 601 has landed on the loftiest ice dome on the Antarctic Plateau, the first time for a fixed-wing aircraft in human's history.

The aircraft made the historical landing on Sunday at the airport of the Kunlun Station near Dome A, 4,093 meters above sea level, at 2:35 p.m. local time (5:35 p.m. Beijing Time) after flying 1,316 kilometers from the Zhongshan Station in east Antarctica.

It stayed for about two hours before returning to the eastern research station at an altitude of only 250 meters.

Snow Eagle 601 is landing at the airport of the Kunlun Station, Jan. 8, 2017. (Xinhua)

"The landing makes it possible that China could expand its reach and existence to the whole continent," said Sun Bo, team leader of China's 33rd Antarctic expedition, which departed with the research vessel and icebreaker Xuelong from Shanghai on November 2, 2016 and was scheduled to return to Shanghai on April 11.

The expedition has a list of 72 tasks to perform including preliminary site selection for China's new base on the Ross Sea and work on fixed-wing aircraft.

After putting into use, Snow Eagle 601 has served as a mobile "experimental platform," responsible for discovering lakes and rivers hidden under ice sheets which are thousands of meters thick, and surveying areas that vehicles cannot reach.

Snow Eagle 601 is landing at the airport of the Kunlun Station, Jan. 8, 2017. (Xinhua)

It founded the largest ever canyon on earth in the sector of Princess Elizabeth Land a year ago.

The aircraft will also offer another alternative for transportation of supply for the research stations, which has mainly been conducted by ships.

A team with China's 33rd Antarctic expedition arrived at the Kunlun Station one day before the coming of the new year. Apart from regular research missions, they were tasked with another key mission: to build a runway for Snow Eagle 601.

Researchers pose for a photo after the landing of Snow Eagle 601 at the Kunlun Station, Jan. 8, 2017. (Xinhua)

With the whole year's average temperature being -58.4 degree, Dome A has been covered with meters-thick soft snow that has accumulated during the past winter.

"For the first time, the team members tried and finished a runway on soft snow," said Wei Fuhai, chief of the Kunlun Station.

Since 1984, China has been doing scientific research in the Antarctica for 33 years. Four research stations, Changcheng, Zhongshan, Taishan and Kunlun, have been established during this period.