The first polar flight was made on 21 August 1914 by pilot Jan Nagórski on a seaplane Farman MF-11. This massive machine could develop up to 100 km/h on an absolutely ruthless 70-horsepower motor, lifted up to 300 kg and flew without refuelling for six hours. Jan Nagórski in the company of sailor Evgeny Kuznetsov took off from the shores of Novaya Zemlya and overcame 450 km, becoming the first pilot to conquer the Arctic Ocean.

From that day until the end of World War II, seaplanes had a strong presence in the Arctic. They had a number of undeniable advantages, the main of which was landing on water: in the times of active development of the North, building an airfield for an ordinary airplane was always a problem. In general, seaplanes of the first third of the 20th century were easier to escort ships on expeditions, conduct ice reconnaissance and evacuate polar explorers. For example, in 1927, the Kolyma steamship, which broke through the ice from Vladivostok to the mouth of the Lena River, was accompanied by a link of two seaplanes. The pilots made it from Cape Severny on the Chukotka coast to Wrangel Island and successfully returned back to the ship. Then the operation was repeated in the Tiksi area: the pilots reached Yakutsk from the mouth of the Lena River. In total, the airplanes flew 7,300 km as part of the expedition. Seaplanes were actively used until the 1940s—Dornier Wal flying boats served for more than 20 years on Chukotka airlines.

Nevertheless, the 'golden age' of seaplanes in the Arctic was even shorter: already in the 1930s, they began to be gradually abandoned. The main advantage of this type of airplane was also its strongest disadvantage. Arctic waters are rarely calm and clear of ice, and in the event of a wreck, the crew has to dive into the cold abyss with a fairly low chance of survival. A seaplane attempting to land in a storm or high winds runs the risk of being broken by waves or swept out to sea. However, in emergency situations, the USSR has time and again returned to proven solutions. Thus, recently, in 2011, the remains of the hydroplane Catalina were discovered on Novaya Zemlya. It was destroyed in 1942 by the German submarine U-601. Such seaplanes could carry 7 tons of cargo and cover a distance of 4,000 km in one trip. They were used extensively for patrolling the North Sea Route, reconnaissance and supply. There is even a legend that an American ambassador visited Novaya Zemlya on the Catalina.

After the Great Patriotic War and the restoration of the national economy, it was decided to cover the Arctic expanses with a network of fixed airfields, and inaccessible regions were to be explored by helicopters. Today this concept is trying to be supplemented with drones, but the overall idea remains the same.

However, the idea of exploiting numerous rivers and rivulets of the North, as well as the water area of the North Sea Route, still excites engineering thought. Thus, in the USSR and then in Russia, various models of ekranoplans appeared—low-flying universal aircraft capable of overcoming water obstacles and rushing over the tundra with equal ease. One of the most interesting vessels of the Soviet era was the Lun ekranoplan, which was to carry combat duty in the Arctic. This vessel weighing 243 tons, with a wingspan of 44 m and length of 73.8 m developed a speed of 550 km/h and had a decent seaworthiness—the ekranoplan could land on the water and take off from three-metre waves. Its high payload and speed should have ensured its dominance over enemy ships, but the project never went into production.

However, already in modern times an ideological successor to the Lun, the Orlan, is being developed. It is being developed by the Alekseyev Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau specifically for Arctic conditions. As for the civilian versions of ekranoplans, they appeared and disappeared from the radar of the domestic aircraft industry at different times. Scientific and Production Enterprise 'TREC' produces several models of Ivolga ekranoplan, which can carry from 14 to 17 people for 1,500 km at a speed of 220 km/h. They can fly over water as well as over snow and ice—the flight height is up to 4 m. Since November 2011, they have been tested by the FSS Department in the Republic of Karelia, but the ekranoplan itself was created for peaceful purposes. There, in Petrozavodsk, the Avangard shipbuilding enterprise began production and testing of a new experimental Orion-25 ekranoplan, which will be able to fly at a speed of 500 km/h for a distance of 3,600 km. The prospective development should have a travel time of approximately 11 hours for this route. According to the head of the region, the new ekranoplan will be useful for border guards, EMERCOM employees, as well as for delivery of shift workers to hard-to-reach places. In general, the functionality is about the same as that of the seaplane at the beginning of the last century, except that the speed and altitude of flight have changed slightly.

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