NORBERT WIEDERER
First Officer A320 in Lufthansa airlines
"Due to the reduced flight program – especially on Jan 1st – there are most likely a few long layovers at various destinations, which is quite uncommon for the shortrange-network. Usually, an overnight stay is literally one night only, but over New Year, there are always a few highlight-stops including 2 or even 3 local nights. That always serves as a good incentive to voluntarily sign in for a flight, and use that opportunity to take a relative with me. My wish is Gothenburg this year. Very often I can combine a personal interest in a particular city with a scheduled stay over New Year. It´s always nice to see how different countries and cultures celebrate during the night in their individual way. Not only to see, but also to participate! It is the variety and always changing experiences which makes my job so diversified. From T-shirt weather in Naples up to a -42 degrees in Ekaterinburg, everything already happened on New Year’s Eve.
A few years ago I conducted a flight from Frankfurt to Moscow, on Dec. 31st. I remember, the departure was quite late in the evening, and we were scheduled to be in Moscow at around 2 o´clock in the morning. Prior to that flight I already prepared my passenger announcement which I wanted to do at midnight, and had some nice ideas about what to say.
The flight itself was very smooth and everything went normal until I randomly looked at my watch, realizing that it was already half past midnight! I was quite surprised cause it seemed that somehow everybody missed New Year. Luckily there is also a clock in the cockpit which is tuned to Standard-Time and after a few sad moments of being disappointed that I missed my preplanned announcement, I finally realized that we overflew the border of the next time zone and my sports-watch that I was wearing at that time automatically advanced by 1 hour. So on this particular evening it was actually never really midnight for me, but luckily nobody else noticed it and I could hold my Happy New Year announcement as planned.
One time I had a flight on Jan 1st, at 6 o´clock in the morning, from Munich to London. There was only one passenger on board, as the rest did not even make it to show up at the gate. The passenger literally got his own private flight to Heathrow, which I think is probably absolutely exceptional. The return flight thereafter was fully booked and I would say that that 90% of all passengers were sleeping until we landed in Munich.
The mood on New Year´s Eve is always very special. A flight on that evening is usually the last official task that needs to be done in the ongoing year, and a landing on that day is not only the end of a flight, but also marks the end of a year. When reaching the parking position it always feels like closing a chapter in a book, and it is for me always a point to reflect and be thankful that everything went well on all the flights during the past year and that we always flew safely. Switching off the engine on that night is always quite a bit more emotional than usual.
I wish Happy New Year to everybody on board as part of my passenger announcements, but if time permits I prefer to stand at the entrance-door during boarding and/or deboarding. That is in my eyes a more personal interaction than a voice out of the loudspeakers. In general I always wish everybody lots of success, happiness and of course a lot of health, because that is what has value to everybody independent of culture or personal attitudes. But actually it is rather a mutual thing and not only me wishing something to the passengers. All on board mutually wish good luck and happiness to each other and it makes people feel united. We all made it through the year, including all ups and downs that probably everybody had to experience. Above all, everybody is in the same boat (or in this case: an airplane) starting a new year full of hopes, plans and wishes. That always creates a special atmosphere which is unique.
My wish for next year is that the overall situation is going to alleviate and that we can arrange more personal meetings again which are so important for our societies to be united and connected.
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