Santa Claus visits Caravelle

Suomeksi

On the weekend 13-14 December 2025 we had the traditional Christmas event at Turku Airport when Santa Claus visited our Caravelle. The weather was ok and the light snowfall on Sunday night made the landscape white and wintery, at least for a short while.

During the two days a good number of children came to meet Santa, along with their parents or grandparents. Everyone could attend the flight they wanted and visit the flight deck where the experienced crew gave a guided tour.

This weekend was the last visitor event for this year. Now is a good moment to summarize the events for this season.

The volunteer team consisted of about 15 members in the Turku region, and the technical team of 4 members from the Helsinki metropolitan area. The volunteers gathered at the airport to do restoration work and other task 73 times during the year, usually on Mondays and Wednesdays. Only a short winter break and a summer vacation month interrupted the work.

The volunteers’ working hours consisted of
•    1087 hours of restoration work (in 3,5 years a total of 8500 hours of restoration has been done)
•    about 600 hours of visitor service during the opening hours

Other statistics from 2025
•    19 days when the aircraft was open to visitors
•    7 guided tours for groups, booked in advance
•    838 visitors
•    including 195 children
•    visitors from about 10 different countries

When the volunteers came together to do restoration work, we always had a coffee break where we had lively discussions about the Caravelle and about how to make the world a better place.

Thank you to all visitors and the Caravelle team. See you again next year!

Photos: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen