FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 6546 times:
Introduction
Norwegian, the airline, started their operations at HEL in April 2010. I flew in on the inaugural flight from OSL and to ARN on the very same day, see the report here: Norwegian Inaugural Day At HEL: OSL-HEL-ARN (by FlyingFinn76 May 5 2010 in Trip Reports)
Apparently the new routes provided to be quite successful as they first increased the frequencies on the HEL-ARN route and around October 2010 announced that HEL would become a base in spring 2011, initially with three Boeing 738s being based here. The operations would start gradually starting from the end of March, including domestic flights to OUL and RVN, city routes to CPH and LGW plus a good number of flights to the holiday hotspots in the Med (BCN, ALC, NCE etc.).
Anyway as soon as the flights became available for sale I of course bought some tickets - judging from the schedules the morning departure to RVN on 31.3 would be the first flight operated by a HEL-based aircraft (and crew, presumably), so I booked a ticket on that for 29 EUR. The very same day would also see the the route to OUL being opened, and with quite convenient train connections available between these two cities I opted to fly out of OUL in the evening, another 29 EUR ticket.
Finally I asked the fellow a.netter AYA333 to join in on the fun, and sometime later he told me that he’d booked the same flight up to RVN, but chose KF and the 717 to get back from OUL instead, as the DY flight had gone up on price and the 717 would be a new plane type for him.
Here’s the route:
.
Thursday 31.3.2011
The departure time is conveniently just after ten in the morning, but wanting to check out the celebrations I head to the airport quite early, reaching T1 just after half past eight. Quite a queue on the DY counters, judging from the many ski bags many pax are heading to RVN:
To avoid waiting I use the self service kiosk instead, grabbing 31F, a window seat in the last row. I also perform my good deed for the day by advising a young Swedish business traveler type about how to use the machine instead of wasting his time in the queue.
A quick stop to grab some cash from an ATM and upstairs to the medium size security queue.
They seem to be filming a young mother with an infant - it later turned out that she was actually on our flight to RVN as well! Anyway I wave and they spot and recognize me, waving back. Hmm, I’m starting to get certain suspicions...
Anyway the next thing I notice is AYA333 joining the queue some ten pax behind me, so I wave at him as well.
On the other side I’m putting on my shoes and stuff when who else than the familiar reporter from the TV crew comes to me, starts with the normal pleasantries before she drops the bomb I’m sure is coming: “Would you mind getting filmed again today?”. Well, all publicity is good publicity, so I say that I don’t mind and we agree to meet at my gate 23 a bit later.
At the same time AYA333 emerges from the security point and we start heading to our gate. 23 is in T2 (now what a surprise!), but I think this is the official “celebration gate” at HEL because I’ve seen many inaugural flight celebrations taking place right there and attended at least two of them myself - AB to DUS back in 2006 and DY from OSL last year.
What’s that cartoon character on this LH bus whose registration advises lactose intolerant people to stay clear of her:
Once we get to the gate it becomes clear there will be some celebrations:
There’s no plane yet - but soon I spot a DY 738 landing and a few minutes later it pulls up to our gate:
LN-DYK, a very new plane having been delivered to DY only a bit over a month prior. Oh and obviously a new one for my log!
The tail features a picture of Carl Larsson, a Swedish painter:
Judging from this bulge, this is one of the planes with wifi onboard - it is for the satellite antenna:
Our flight deck crew in the foreground:
Mmmmmm, goodie bags being filled:
Soon enough the passengers are invited to sample the cake and coffee - as usual most of the people are waiting for someone to take the initiative and somehow I find myself being the very first one, of course closely followed by AYA333 .
Very yummy strawberry cake:
AYA333 finishes his cake and coffee before me and goes off to bug Mr Kjos, Norwegian’s CEO. I soon join them, there’s also another man who I later learn was actually the Norwegian ambassador to Finland! We chat a bit about various things, mainly about Norwegian of course and I strongly suggest they start introducing “Famous Finns” tails and vote for Mannerheim to be the first one. The ambassador suggests Sibelius and Runeberg would complete the triad for the first three aircraft based here but I say that I’d rather see different kind of people there than poets and composers...
Anyway soon we finish our chat and the next people I bump to are the TV crew (ok, I also spot somebody who looks like the bass player from one of my favorite bands, but am not sure, more on this later...). Of course they want to have their footage and short interview of me, so we do that next. On the background I hear AYA333 talking to somebody from Helsinki Airport/Finavia and referring to me as a “hardcore flyer”... ?
Oh well - these random encounters are hardly over for me. After finishing with the interview they do the ribbon cutting ceremony:
From the left: Mr. Kjos, Helsinki Airport/Finavia representative and finally the Norwegian ambassador.
...and then I spot a Norwegian (the airline, not the nationality) pilot looking at me funnily. Well, it turns out to be the one who flew our plane in from Gardermoen this morning and even more incredible, the guy has read my stories here on a.net and admitted to being a big fan! What a small world it indeed is - I never knew I had such a reputation! Anyway we exchange some chitchat but far too soon it is time to board. He hands me his business card, telling me to contact him whenever I’m around Oslo. Thanks Frank, I certainly will, although I’m not sure when it will be!
Finally it is time to board, all this business ate up some time so we aren’t exactly the first ones to board the plane.
Upon entering the jetway we are handed the goodie bags - but let’s not look inside just yet!
As I learned from Frank, this plane has the new Sky interior including mood lighting (no Dubai sky, though) - looks good:
Our cabin crew seems to consist of three Estonian females and one Finnish quite senior male.
The load is very good - the next day’s newspaper mentioned the load as 87%. On my side of the last row I do get two seatmates making it quite cramped. AYA333, the lucky bastard that he is, however gets the entire three seater on the other side of the aisle for himself!
Latest cabin controls - the air vents look interesting:
Once the bins are closed it becomes apparent that the new interior does indeed give lots of space:
Seat pitch is tight:
Captain Hesthammer, a Norwegian (the nationality... oh well, this joke is getting soooooo old) welcomes us onboard for our flight to Rovaniemi, which should take around 1h10mins with good flying conditions all along the way.
AY A333 (how appropriate!) next to us - I think she’s heading up to KTT or maybe LPA as that is a Schengen gate:
El gitarro? Or as I will learn a bit later might just not be any old guitar...
Safety demo being played on the overhead screens:
Push back is five minutes late.
Air Åland Saab 340 operated by NextJet landing on 15:
We perform a rolling take off from runway 22R seven minutes after pushback:
Nice shots of our shadow:
Bye, HEL:
Järvenpää, greetings to Gustav:
Right after the seatbelt sign is switched off an announcement is made about the onboard internet connection being available (and free for now!), so I have no choice than to try it. Works like a charm actually - quite a few people seem to be taking advantage of it, including my seat mates:
Finland still looking very snowy:
The city of Jyväskylä:
Followed by Tikkakoski Airport (JYV):
I chat some with my seatmates, a bunch of co-workers who are heading to Levi for a weekend of “skiii... *cough* drinking!” like they put it (and since the other guy who’s not the designated driver managed to down to cans of lager during this short hop I have no doubts about it!). Quite nice persons all in all, and it turns out they saved a ton of money by flying to RVN and renting a couple of cars there for the drive up to Levi instead of flying to KTT - it definitely is high season there!
Nice contrast with the white ground, blue sky and the bright red winglet:
We talk about me snapping so many photos - the guys seem to understand my hobby just fine and don’t even blink when I mention the purpose of this trip and that we are just hitting the train to OUL and then flying back from there. At some point the other guy really surprises me by handing me his business card and asks me to email a link to my photos and/or report once it is available - I am REALLY starting to create a cult here, methinks!
Soon enough we start our descent, the Estonian FO (I was almost certain he was Estonian when I saw him at the gate and his distinct and easily recognizable English accent is a sure giveaway!) announces that unfortunately there has just been a runway direction switch at RVN which means that we need to make a bit of a detour which will eat up some time and have us at the gate around 11.35, ten minutes late. Bugger - this means that I miss the excellent city views the usual approach to runway 03 would present on my side of the plane...
Hmm, has this barn burned recently:
Turning for finals:
Landing on runway 21 is after 1h13mins of flight time, and a couple of minutes we dock to a jetway (!) at the terminal:
Well, one of the bad parts about sitting in the last row is the time it takes to disembark if the back stairs are not in use like today (RVN airport could learn a thing or two about efficiency from ARN T2 for example). AYA333 is already chatting with the crew in the back galley and I soon join him there. As I expected it’ll be this very same plane doing the three roundtrips to OUL afterwards. This crew will only operate the first one of them and there will be a crew switch for the next flights, so at least I’ll get a new crew!
A bit blurry shot of the interior and mood lighting:
Soon the plane empties and we bid goodbye to the nice and friendly crew and head to the terminal. Inside there are more celebrations, Mr. Kjos is there again (he accompanied us on the flight) making a speech and from somewhere in the background I can hear a band playing some celebratory music..
Bye, see you in the evening:
We don’t have too much time so start heading out to arrange some transportation to the railway station. Well, who do I bump into in the arrivals hall than the singer of that favorite band of mine whose bass player I apparently did see back in HEL?! Of course I have to shake the guy’s hand and chat a bit - it turns out that they indeed flew in on the same plane and are supposed to have a gig tonite at one of the ski resorts. More random encounters!
Anyway AYA333 looks a bit inpatient so I bid farewell and head out where he has already arranged us seats on the airport shuttle service.
Rovaniemi to Oulu
After some detours via a couple of hotels in the city centre we end up in the bus station, which is just a short walk away from the train station and we decide to walk there.
Hopefully not our engine today:
TIDS:
We still have half an hour until the train departs (see AYA333 - why were you worrying?) and its lunch time, so the station restaurant is our next stop. Being in the capital of Lapland I just can’t choose anything else than the traditional reindeer stew - always so good:
Soon enough it is time to board our train and we agree to spend our two and half hour journey in the restaurant car as our seat assignments are in different cars and load on the midday train is low anyway.
Inside there’s finally time to dig into the goodie bag:
Quite lame if you ask me - the only things it contains are a small piece of paper about why this is a special experience and two pairs of Norwegian-branded eyeshades in a nice enough holding pouch:
I half expected a free ticket voucher or something like that - just like Jonas got on his inaugural flight on the ARN-GOT route some time ago...
Oulu
The train pulls to Oulu right on the schedule so we have some three hours before the departure of our flights. We agree to walk around a bit - the weather is quite nice today:
We end up in the market square right next to the sea - this policeman statue is a famous symbol of the city:
The market hall:
Fish, anyone?
Reindeers, anyone?
I like these old warehouses - nowadays they house cafes, restaurants and craft shops:
An early dinner later we hit the airport bus and after a bit frustrating ride (I just hate when airport buses also double as regular commuter buses and make lots of detours via residential areas!) end up at Oulu Airport in the neighbouring town of Oulunsalo:
Oulu Airport
Oh, there are check in machines here as well:
I use these to check myself in - there are lots and lots of vacant seats on the map so maybe the load isn’t that great - wanting some extra legroom I go for the bulkhead 1F.
AYA333 in the meantime has picked up his boarding pass from the KF check in counter, so after a short look around he head through security and end up in the cafe upstairs.
Along the way I stop by the Norwegian gate - looks like they had some celebrations here for the inaugural flight earlier today:
AY:
Notice the three flights (supposedly) departing for HEL at exactly the same time:
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 1, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 6564 times:
Oh well, according to the Helsinki Airport website AYA333’s plane left HEL ten minutes or so late while it is giving confusing information about my flight. His 717 does show up almost on time and soon boarding is called so I bid him farewell and decide to check out my gate - oh, looks like they have brought in some more cake and Marianne candies:
Still yummy, but the one in the morning tasted better:
OH-BLH is operating AYA333’s flight:
After this I notice that my delay has gotten quite a bit longer:
So with nothing else to do I head back upstairs for another malted beverage and to photograph AYA333’s plane which seems to have some trouble getting out as they spend quite a long time in the apron after all the pax have boarded:
Bye, mate:
Finally LN-DYK lands, 20 minutes after it was supposed to depart in the first place:
The ground crew seems to be trying to put in their best performance during this inaugural day as boarding is called right after the first passengers start disembarking from the plane. They try to do it so that pax leave the plane from the front while new pax use the back stairs to fill in from the rear at the same time. Well, this doesn’t really work out as it should so mild chaos follows (as is usual whenever somebody tries to board by row numbers here in Finland as the pax don’t apparently give a rat’s ass nor do the gate agents enforce it...).
I try to chat up the gate agents but they seem far too stressed - the only information I can gouge out of them is that the load should be “around hundred”.
Soon enough I join to queue and head outside to the apron. Hmm, I think this sign has been lying here for a while as KF stopped the CPH route many years ago:
Hello, LN-DYK, pleased to meet you again:
At least the passengers were obedient in that sense that everybody is heading to the back stairs even though all the inbound pax have already left the plane. Well, with my seat on the front row it would be stupid for me to do the same so I use the front stairs instead - and you guessed it - after I do this a good number of other pax follow me. As a species we might not be that far from lemmings as we would like to believe!
A friendly Estonian girl and an overly friendly young Swedish guy greet me in the front galley (later I learn that there’s another Estonian steward onboard, not sure about the fourth FA, a girl as I never hear her saying anything).
Plenty of legroom on the bulkhead row - I definitely recommend these seats for the longer services:
Norwegian motif:
Hmm, I never noticed how misaligned the rows are:
They are aligned in the back so I think they even up on the exit rows.
Quite interesting - they seem to be refueling the plane here. Interesting in that sense that all KF, AY and FC usually fuel their planes for both legs at HEL as the fuel there is just so much cheaper that it usually is worth it even with the increased fuel burn on the outbound...
Anyway I heard quite a few clicks from seat belts being fastened behind us so once the Swedish steward passes I tell him that maybe they should make an announcement about keeping the seat belts unfastened as apparently they indeed are taking on fuel. He does this and thanks me afterwards, I give him the thumbs up.
I love the mood lighting:
Our Norwegian (the nationality, oh well...) captain welcomes us onboard for this “First domestic day of operations”, explaining something about the fresh crew inheriting an already delayed plane at HEL and things snowballing from there. According to him we should be good to go in ten minutes or so after the refueling and paper work are all settled out - flight time to HEL will be 50 minutes with good weather enroute.
Well, it takes a bit more than ten minutes, but finally we depart a good 1h9mins late a commence our taxi to runway 30, where we take off only two minutes later.
The new terminal extension taking shape:
The city of Oulu:
That line on the ice is an ice road connecting the mainland with the island of Hailuoto, the third largest island in the Finnish territorial waters of the Baltic Sea. During the warmer seasons this connection is provided by a ferry:
Great views of the setting sun over the western horizon:
City of Raahe in the distance:
Wifi is still available and working just like in the morning, so I use it for a while.
Our descent commences right over the Vääksy isthmus:
The captain is again on the horn, saying that “we had some nice shortcuts to our route today which sped us up and we will be landing on runway one-five at 20.35. Weather at Helsinki is nice, zero degrees and no winds at all.”.
This is almost exactly what happens - we land after a quick flight time of 47 minutes on runway 15 and a few minutes later we dock to jetway.
DAT MD-87 operating for KF. This very same plane would operate the next morning’s OUL-HEL flight which returned to OUL right after take off due to engine trouble:
While waiting to get out of the plane I mention to the crew that this is my second flight onboard this very same today - they answer “Already?”. The Swedish guy is a bit worried that this delay will be written in a bad light in the press: “The new player - already late!” but I assure him that they’ll be mostly interested on the morning flight which was almost on time.
Once the doors are opened it’s a bit of a walk to T1 arrivals, outside and to the next bus to home for yet another successfully completed trip.
Conclusions
It’s not every day an airline opens a new base at HEL, or Finland in general. New routes happen every now and then, but a new base is different. I do welcome DY here and sincerely hope that they will succeed. I think what will happen that the first 6-12 months will see some routes that get dropped and perhaps some new ones or at least added frequencies on the successful ones. RVN will probably work fine for them, after all KF flies there only during the winter season and AY is as usual far too expensive. OUL is more worrying as there’s now quite a bit of overcapacity on the route with AY and KF having quite a few daily departures and even DY operating four on weekdays. Let’s see - the next few months will tell what will happen and one thing is certain: it will be good for the consumer with plenty of cheap seats up for grabs!
That new Sky interior was great, it really made the cabin feel much larger than it actually is, too bad it can’t do anything about the seat pitch. The mood lighting - another nice twist. And finally the onboard wifi - great, this was my first time using such a thing and it really makes the flight go faster (if that’s what you want!). Just rest assured that it won’t stay free for long!
And finally it was quite an surreal day to say the least - after I returned home I realized that I did indeed talk with the Norwegian ambassador, Norwegian’s CEO, the singer of one of my favorite bands and so on on this very same daytrip. Oh and heard that a pilot of Norwegian likes my trip reports (AYA333 really found this funny!) and got another guy requesting me to provide a link for him to read them - quite bizarre actually. Oh and don’t forget another unexpected cameo appearance on reality TV!
Finally, big thanks to AYA333 for joining me, it was a pleasure, mate! Let’s come up with more interesting stuff in the future!
A little over a week and I’m back on the road to collect a handful of new airports and a bit rarer airline as well on a weekend trip consisting of: HEL-TXL-SCN/LUX-MUC/FMM-NYO-GDN-CPH-HEL. Stay tuned!
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4068 posts, RR: 51 Reply 2, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 6497 times:
P,
great report. You're so quick bring them online... You have longer days in Finland then I have? The 737 interior looks nice indeed, first Dutch airline is ArkeFly, operating one of the Sky interiors now. I wonder if the last KLM delivery of last week also got it.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): a weekend trip consisting of: HEL-TXL-SCN/LUX-MUC/FMM-NYO-GDN-CPH-HEL.
Luxair Q400?
Regards
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
LGWflyer From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 6417 times:
Wow loved your TR, one of my favourites!!! Next time I fly DY I hope that I get one of the new 738's. The mood lighting looks good and also I never knew there was a pod for the wifi, learn new things everyday eh. Anyway great pics, what beautiful scenery! Walking out to the plane to board via the stairs are one of my favourite things. Looking forward to the new LGW-HEL route. Anyway as I said, an outstanding TR. Cheers!!!
FLIEGER67 From Bulgaria, joined Sep 2003, 4424 posts, RR: 56 Reply 4, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 6352 times:
Hi, P.,
great stuff again, these winter pictures from the north are always nice to follow.
Also Norwegian and the goodies all around you´re flights seems ok.
Everytime nice to go with good company, greetings also to J./AYA333.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): rd and asks me to email a link to my photos and/or report once it is available - I am REALLY starting to create a cult here, methinks!
Hey, dont stop flying anytime and show you´re customers something new from time to time.
CaptainRed From Germany, joined Oct 2010, 588 posts, RR: 19 Reply 6, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 6325 times:
Hi P.,
wow, what an interesting day you had here. Great to experience such a celebration, also nice from DY to let the passengers be part of it. I guess some of them were rather surprised. The interior of the plane also looks interesting, that mood lighting is certainly nice.
It is simply called 'Die Maus' (The Mouse) and it is quite famous in Germany, there is a TV show with it for kids which explains all kinds of things of everyday life in a way adequate for children.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): What a small world it indeed is - I never knew I had such a reputation!
Let's face it, you are getting really famous, and now also becoming a TV star
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): Well, with my seat on the front row it would be stupid for me to do the same so I use the front stairs instead - and you guessed it - after I do this a good number of other pax follow me. As a species we might not be that far from lemmings as we would like to believe!
Yes, that reminds me of the Ryanair boarding experience. Always funny to watch people do this, but I guess it is pretty normal behavior.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): A little over a week and I’m back on the road to collect a handful of new airports and a bit rarer airline as well on a weekend trip consisting of: HEL-TXL-SCN/LUX-MUC/FMM-NYO-GDN-CPH-HEL. Stay tuned!
Now that looks like an interesting route. You might be flying over my home on the LUX-MUC leg, so watch out . Looking forward to that report.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 6195 times:
Well, you had a busy and star-studded day! Maybe life as an a-netter is getting actually quite glamourous! The new Boeing cabin looks really nice - the curved lights on the ceiling look great. It'll be interesting to see how they do on theor new routes. Adding 4 daily flights in a small market to OUL seems like an interesting strategy. I wonder how they'll do on the HEL-London route. There already seems to be waaay to much capacity with AY, BA and U2.
MD11Bob From Germany, joined Mar 2010, 102 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 6187 times:
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 6):
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter):
What’s that cartoon character on this LH bus
It is simply called 'Die Maus' (The Mouse) and it is quite famous in Germany, there is a TV show with it for kids which explains all kinds of things of everyday life in a way adequate for children.
They actually filmed the whole process of assembling that particular aircraft from beginning to delivery and made several episodes about it. The episodes were great; they were designed for children but actually they were of such high quality level that viewer numbers featured a good bunch of adults. LH added the "Maus" on the aircraft so that children could recognize "their" plane.
About your trip... well, great as always and I am just stunned by the speed and frequency in which you deliver those reports to us
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6115 posts, RR: 56 Reply 9, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 6187 times:
Hi FlyingFinn!
Very nice repor with very nice pictures! Amazing day for you with all the people you met and all the festivites. Legroom looks very cramped but the bulk head looks great. The Sky interior looks very nice as well. Oulea looks nice as well.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
BAViscount From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 2338 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 6115 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Being in the capital of Lapland I just can’t choose anything else than the traditional reindeer stew - always so good:
Looks like a big slug got to it before you did!! I also tried the reindeer stew when I was in RVN...I can confirm that it is indeed, delicious!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): That line on the ice is an ice road connecting the mainland with the island of Hailuoto, the third largest island in the Finnish territorial waters of the Baltic Sea.
That sounds like it would make for an interesting excursion. Do you know when the ice road stops being usable?
Nice report. It sounds as though DY are really doing well these days. I did quite a few flights with them about five or six years ago, when they were still flying from STN, although all but one of my flights were domestic legs within Norway. I was always impressed by them then...friendly crew, nice food and reasonable fares. I'm glad they've continued to go from strength to strength.
Thanks for the report.
Andy.
Ladies & gentlemen this is Captain Tobias Wilcock welcoming you aboard Coconut Airways flight 372 to Bridgetown Barb
stipica From Croatia, joined Feb 2011, 408 posts, RR: 8 Reply 12, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 6052 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): And finally it was quite an surreal day to say the least - after I returned home I realized that I did indeed talk with the Norwegian ambassador, Norwegian’s CEO, the singer of one of my favorite bands and so on on this very same daytrip. Oh and heard that a pilot of Norwegian likes my trip reports (AYA333 really found this funny!) and got another guy requesting me to provide a link for him to read them - quite bizarre actually. Oh and don’t forget another unexpected cameo appearance on reality TV!
Your Excellency FlyingFinn76 !
Thanks for the awesome trip report and don't be modest after so much efforts you deserve to be a celebrity on the red carpet ... after all, you're airliners.net ambassador at this event ...Stipica
odo From Finland, joined Jan 2005, 33 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 6042 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): OUL is more worrying as there’s now quite a bit of overcapacity on the route with AY and KF having quite a few daily departures and even DY operating four on weekdays. Let’s see - the next few months will tell what will happen and one thing is certain: it will be good for the consumer with plenty of cheap seats up for grabs!
I suspect the biggest loser on this whole thing will be state railways with current prices travel times. From the three airlines, I don't see Norwegian being the losing airline. Finnair should be worried.
Burj From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 856 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 5871 times:
Great trip report and congrats on your fame! I wonder if the ambassador is telling his friends and family that he got to meet YOU at the airport!
AYA333 From Finland, joined Aug 2008, 110 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 5851 times:
Great report again, P!
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 7): I wonder how they'll do on the HEL-London route. There already seems to be waaay to much capacity with AY, BA and U2.
Actually, currently AY, BA, KF and U2 fly on Helsinki-London route. U2 is withdrawing in a couple of months and DY is about to start so competition will continue! Nice for us customers of course!
Quoting odo (Reply 13): I suspect the biggest loser on this whole thing will be state railways with current prices travel times. From the three airlines, I don't see Norwegian being the losing airline. Finnair should be worried.
I agree that VR (Finnish Railways) will lose lots of customers and will have to think about their pricing over! AY will do fine because lots of transit passengers continuing onwards, so will DY because of their (cheapest) prices. But how will KF do??
Thanks for a really nice day, P! Btw, the funniest thing about your chat with Frank the airline pilot wasn´t the fact he likes your reports, but the fact that he recognised you from the crowd (because of your hat, I presume)
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 16, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 5629 times:
Hi guys, good to see so many comments already! Thanks!
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 2): You have longer days in Finland then I have?
As a matter of fact we do - white nights and all that staff. Even already now the days are quite nice and long . I love the spring here, although right now it is far too wet for comfort.
Quoting LGWflyer (Reply 3): Wow loved your TR, one of my favourites!!!
Thanks, glad you liked my little story.
Quoting LGWflyer (Reply 3): Looking forward to the new LGW-HEL route.
I am booked to fly it in the end of May - will definitely try hard to get a bulkhead or an exit row seat...!
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 6):
wow, what an interesting day you had here. Great to experience such a celebration, also nice from DY to let the passengers be part of it. I guess some of them were rather surprised.
Yeah, for example my seatmates had no idea this was the first service, although they were aware that the route was a new one.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 6): It is simply called 'Die Maus' (The Mouse) and it is quite famous in Germany, there is a TV show with it for kids which explains all kinds of things of everyday life in a way adequate for children.
Ok, thanks for the information.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 6): You might be flying over my home on the LUX-MUC leg, so watch out
I'll try to remember to wave, approximately 15.76 minutes after take off from Findel.
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 7): Maybe life as an a-netter is getting actually quite glamourous!
You wish . The reality - lots of empty beer cans and take away food containers...
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 7): The new Boeing cabin looks really nice - the curved lights on the ceiling look great.
I agree, very nice. I think it will be even more impressive when flying in the dark.
Quoting MD11Bob (Reply 8): The episodes were great; they were designed for children but actually they were of such high quality level that viewer numbers featured a good bunch of adults.
Ok, thanks for the more information. Are these available in youtube perhaps?
Quoting BAViscount (Reply 11): Do you know when the ice road stops being usable?
When the ice isn't strong enough anymore . It depends of course on the harshness of the winter and so on, but this year I'd say that it's good for a week or two at max, the spring is approaching fast!
Quoting BAViscount (Reply 11): I was always impressed by them then...friendly crew, nice food and reasonable fares. I'm glad they've continued to go from strength to strength.
Oh yes. DY is very high quality. Although the fares can sometimes be absurdly high, try booking a holiday route ex-Norway or Sweden and be ready to choke on your biscuit! I saw fares of over 400+ EUR for a one way between LPA and OSL, now that's steep.
Quoting odo (Reply 13): I suspect the biggest loser on this whole thing will be state railways with current prices travel times. From the three airlines, I don't see Norwegian being the losing airline. Finnair should be worried.
It's a complicated thing. I predict that DY will indeed mainly eat into the train passengers, which hopefully will force VR to lower their prices which at least me would welcome with open arms. AY will always have their goverment and large business customers and transfer traffic, so I predict they won't lower their fares too much BUT we will probably see a few frequencies less and smaller planes (E-jets instead of Airbuses etc.). KF is the biggest mystery - they are trying hard to build up their network ex-HEL, but the lack of long distance *A connections at HEL hurts them a lot. I think we will see a reduction in frequencies and more DC ATRs operating instead of the 717s on the second half of this year.
Quoting AYA333 (Reply 15): Btw, the funniest thing about your chat with Frank the airline pilot wasn´t the fact he likes your reports, but the fact that he recognised you from the crowd (because of your hat, I presume)
SRforever From Switzerland, joined Dec 2006, 129 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 5389 times:
What an experience.
You really seem to be getting quite a reputation.
And I must say that it is well earned as you put a lot off effort into your fabulous reports.
Sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1215 posts, RR: 29 Reply 19, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 5317 times:
Hello FlyingFinn or should I now say FamousFinn?
Thanks for this kinda special report. You are becoming a regular in attending inaugurals (with or without special ceremonies). I just wonder how you are so well informed, you must have your inside sources then
I must admit the 738 looks very nice indeed with the mood lighting and especially with the onboard wifi. Will they be retrofitting the rest of their fleet as well?
gpbcroppers63 From Ireland, joined Jan 2008, 513 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 5280 times:
Another Nordic masterpiece from you. Well done. Really enjoyed it! The Boeing Sky Interior looks stunning! It really changes the way the 737 cabin looks.
Overall, it sounds like you had a great day out and met some really interesting people.
Thanks again for posting and look forward to reading many more of your adventures.
Gareth
According to one of my colleagues, my problem is that I'm addicted to travel!
akhmad From Netherlands, joined Sep 2005, 2337 posts, RR: 53 Reply 22, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 5023 times:
Hi P.,
Nice to see another adventure of Norwegian inaugural. Interesting that Norwegian did not include free flight voucher in the goodie bag like the one of Jonas.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I also perform my good deed for the day by advising a young Swedish business traveler type about how to use the machine instead of wasting his time in the queue.
A good Samaritan that you are.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Judging from this bulge, this is one of the planes with wifi onboard - it is for the satellite antenna:
It reminds me a bit of a military aircraft.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): AYA333, the lucky bastard that he is, however gets the entire three seater on the other side of the aisle for himself!
Don't you think your seat mates wished to get seated next to a film star like you?
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Works like a charm actually - quite a few people seem to be taking advantage of it, including my seat mates:
I wonder whether the connection would be affected if everyone on board was using the free Internet.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): I just can’t choose anything else than the traditional reindeer stew - always so good
Just look at the creamy mashed potato underneath. Yummy!
Did you not get charged extra for selecting a bulkhead seat?
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 1): That line on the ice is an ice road connecting the mainland with the island of Hailuoto, the third largest island in the Finnish territorial waters of the Baltic Sea. During the warmer seasons this connection is provided by a ferry:
Never seen something like this. How exciting!.
Thank you for sharing, P. An A.net meeting is always great to have.
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 23, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 4758 times:
Hi guys, good to see more comments. Thanks!
Quoting SRforever (Reply 18): And I must say that it is well earned as you put a lot off effort into your fabulous reports.
Thanks mate, I try to do my best.
Quoting SRforever (Reply 18): the traditional reindeer stew
now that looks familar
Heh yeah, brings back some memories. But yeah, when in Lapland, do as the Laplanders do and all that...
Quoting Sultanils (Reply 19): ou are becoming a regular in attending inaugurals (with or without special ceremonies). I just wonder how you are so well informed, you must have your inside sources then
Well, the Internet is a wonderful thing. I monitor quite a few frequent flyer forums, plus anna.aero and of course the RSS feed of airlineroute.net - those are quite good sources for new routes and stuff like that.
Quoting Sultanils (Reply 19): Will they be retrofitting the rest of their fleet as well?
I think all the 738s will eventually get the satellite connection. Doubt that they will spend any more money than is absolutely necessary on the 737 classics - those are anyway going in a few years.
Quoting Sultanils (Reply 19): Aha 'Lemmings', that's a nice old school computer game also, isn't it?
Yep, that's where I got the idea from...
Quoting oa260 (Reply 20): When will the snow melt up there??
It's been above zero now for quite some time and mostly pouring down, which means that the snow is melting fast. There just is so damned much of it so it'll take some time.
Quoting gpbcroppers63 (Reply 21): Another Nordic masterpiece from you. Well done. Really enjoyed it!
Thanks, Gareth!
Quoting akhmad (Reply 22): Interesting that Norwegian did not include free flight voucher in the goodie bag like the one of Jonas.
Yeah, that would've been very generous (and come in handy as well as I've got another RVN-HEL trip on them coming up!).
Quoting akhmad (Reply 22): Don't you think your seat mates wished to get seated next to a film star like you?
They don't know it yet. The show isn't out until October or so!
Quoting akhmad (Reply 22): Did you not get charged extra for selecting a bulkhead seat?
Nope. It costs extra (12 EUR methinks) to reserve such a seat in advance, but once at check in all unreserved seats are up for grabs. Thanks to the self service machines it's even quite easy to score one, at least on these short hops not many people bother to pay that fee. Let's see how my HEL-LGW in May will do.
infodesk From Switzerland, joined May 2006, 1256 posts, RR: 33 Reply 24, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 1 day ago) and read 4636 times:
Hi P,
Great report indeed. Judging by things I guess we'll be seeing a few more DY reports in the future. You certainly do get damn lucky with these inaugurals - there's always cake involved! And fancy getting approached by the pilot like that. You are getting a name for yourself.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): “Would you mind getting filmed again today?”. Well, all publicity is good publicity
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Upon entering the jetway we are handed the goodie bags - but let’s not look inside just yet!
Ooh, how exciting, never got one of those onbaord before. Although I too would have been pretty disappointed with the contents. A couple of biros, stickers, postcards wouldn't have been bad either.
Now that sounds like one to log, an widebody on a domestic route.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Works like a charm actually - quite a few people seem to be taking advantage of it, including my seat mates:
And most appropriate to see one of your reports at the top of the list.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Thread starter): Well, who do I bump into in the arrivals hall than the singer of that favorite band of mine whose bass player I apparently did see back in HEL?! Of course I have to shake the guy’s hand and chat a bit - it turns out that they indeed flew in on the same plane and are supposed to have a gig tonite at one of the ski resorts. More random encounters!
Well done! May I ask which band it was, I'm assuming they're Finnish? When we flew to MAN for Christmas we had 3 members of Uriah Heep a couple of rows infront of us. My hubby, who's not usually the shy sort, still wasn't entirely sure it was them, then got starstruck and didn't say a word. He's still kicking himself.
Loved your shots from the OUL-HEL flight, although I do think it's time you Finns got a taste of spring......
Happy flying
Infodesk
"Do nothing in haste, look well to each step and from the beginning think what may be the end" - Edward Whymper
25 parton87: Hello Petteri! Thanks for a nice story of your DY flights in Finland. It will be interesting to see how DY will do in Finland. Thinking of Easyjet tha
26 PlaneHunter: Hi FlyingFinn, nice report about this inaugural flight, finally found the time to read it completely. Maybe you also end up on a tail one day: FlyingF
27 deltamartin: Hey FlyingFinn! Once again a great report. Nice you got to fly with the new Sky-Interior, hope i'll get to try it out aswell in a not to distant futur
28 FlyingFinn76: Hi folks, thanks for the additional comments - always appreciated! Well, I've got three flights coming up with them in May, one of them is an inaugura
Sponsor Message: 
From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, 
.
.
From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4068 posts, 
The 737 interior looks nice indeed, first Dutch airline is ArkeFly, operating one of the Sky interiors now. I wonder if the last KLM delivery of last week also got it. 
From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2011, 2348 posts, 
From Bulgaria, joined Sep 2003, 4424 posts, 
From Germany, joined May 2010, 449 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6115 posts, 
From Croatia, joined Feb 2011, 408 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Dec 2006, 129 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1215 posts, 
From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 25129 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
