Aviation at Christmas time

Christmas has been around for many centuries long before the advent of aviation. However, aviation’s link with Christmas traces back to mythical images of Santa flying across the skies on Christmas eve night in his reindeer-drawn sleigh led by Rudolph the red-nose reindeer and loaded with bags of goodies for children to bring joy and happiness to their hearts.

Today, in most parts of the world Christmas festivities normally start at the beginning of December culminating with the New Year’s celebrations. However, there are some significant historical aviation moments in December that brings aviation into Christmas.

On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers – Orville and Wilbur – made the first ever controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with their “Wright Flyer” at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, now known as Kill Devil Hills. The brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

On December 7, 1944, 52 countries signed the convention on international civil aviation at the Grand Ballroom of the Stevens Hotel in Chicago, Illinois which is now commonly referred to as the Chicago Convention. The Chicago Convention created the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral carrying three astronauts Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman on a historic journey around the moon. A little after midnight on Christmas Day, the astronauts ignited the rocket boosters that propelled them out of the moon’s orbit and back towards Earth. They had successfully circled the moon ten times, seen the dark side of the moon and broadcast a lunar sunrise to over a billion television viewers in one of the most watched moments in history.

In 1996, pursuant to an ICAO initiative and with the assistance of the Canadian Government, the UN General Assembly officially recognised December 7 as International Civil Aviation Day in the UN system.

In 1927, a Finnish radio host proclaimed to know the secret of Santa's hometown. He said it was in Korvatunturi, a mountainous area in Finnish Lapland region covered by thick pine forests over which hundreds of thousands of reindeer roam. Korvatunturi is now renowned as Santa’s official north pole home where he lives with his wife, Mrs Claus, elves and reindeer. At Christmas time, Santa leaves his home for his around the world trip with a reindeer drawn sleigh to distribute presents to children.

Today, Santa has finally caught up with technology and now has his own airline Finnair, the national airline of Finland. In 1983, Finnair declared itself the official airline of Santa Claus and painted a round badge on to the rear fuselage of one its Airbus A321 aircraft. Previously, the airline had painted a picture of a reindeer on the same section of the aircraft with the words Happy Holidays.

The heart of its Finnair’s relationship with Santa is the airline’s collaboration with the Santa Claus Foundation. Every year this charity donates Christmas presents "to the children of the world" with the overall goal of improving the wellbeing of the children. According to Finnair, flying Santa across the globe from his homeland in Finland, not only promotes the image of the Finland around the world, but more importantly brings joy to millions of children.

The nearest airport to Korvatunturi is at Rovaniemi, the main city within the Arctic Circle in the northern part of the Lapland region. Finnair has regular flights to Rovaniemi which is one of the most popular travel destinations in Finland. The Santa Claus Village is located in Rovaniemi and is open year-round for kids of all ages to see Santa and his elves.

December is normally the busiest time of year in the travel calendar and booking flights and queuing up at airports can be stressful for travellers. Airlines become infused with the Christmas spirit and use this opportunity to up the ante by delivering unique and memorable experiences.

In 2017, Alaska Airlines made the unusual decision of encouraging passengers to dress badly for their flights. But there was a good reason underling this. Priority boarding passes were offered for any passengers wearing their ugliest festive sweaters on what Alaska dubbed Christmas Jumper Day.

British Airways employees on the ground and in the air spread the holiday joy by wearing Christmas jumpers and accessories, decorating aircraft and playing seasonal songs during flights.

Other airlines offer a customised and festive in-flight menu with complimentary drinks.

Singapore Airlines offers passengers a three-course Christmas dinner. Economy passengers are offered a traditional Christmas roast and a Yuletide log cake, whilst those travelling in first-class get a three-bird Christmas roast and an eggnog shot.

Most airlines permit their customer contact employees to dress in Christmas type outfits from the days immediately preceding 25th December. Pilots and flight attendants are permitted to wear a red Santa type or elf hat.

Flying is fun and Christmas is joy.

Merry Christmas, peace and goodwill to all.