Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas, when all across the ramp,
Not an aircraft was starting, nor evening de-icing,
The windsocks were still flapping, but no one to notice
Except St Nicholas when he finally made it

At the time of writing this, Santa has already started his busy schedule and has passed through Magadan, Vladivostok, Brisbane, Christchurch, Pago Pago... I hope he manages to achieve another record year for On-time performance (OTP) and that he isn't held up due to the weather.

The last of our flights have arrived and are parking up for the day. Thankfully this year we have no flights on Christmas Day, so we can shut up until the morning of the 26th and return to work as normal, hopefully avoiding the usual Christmas conversation about how the day went. So the crews and I can hang up the Santa hats for another year, be thankful they don't have to wish another few hundred passengers happy Christmas and now get home in time for their own Christmas.

Don't get me wrong, I am no Scrooge by any means but I have once again succumbed to the frustration of shopping and the empty shelves in all shops as everyone panic buys for the 24 hours the grocery store will be closed.

As I walk across the ramp after my last flight, other flights are still arriving with full loads. I won't get the experience this year again of walking across an apron full of aircraft, all sitting in utter silence, no APUs running, not even any GPUs running, just the eerie silence interrupted by the clacking of engines as they windmill. A somewhat odd sight, like a ghost airport long abandoned.

So Happy Holidays everyone, I'll have a nice warm lie in this Christmas please, Santa!