Can’t Travel? People In Taiwan & Australia Are Paying To Go On Flights To Nowhere
Flights take off and land at the same airport, so passengers don't even need to have their passports with them.
Hop on a plane, get a full meal service, see a new continent maybe, and not have to pack luggage, take your passport, or even serve quarantine when you return? Yes, that’s possible in some parts of the world.
With international leisure travel pretty much a distant dream for now, several airlines have launched flights to nowhere. Yup, flights that take off, fly around for thousands of miles, and land right back where they started. You know that old adage, ‘It’s about the journey, not the destination’? Now this is taking that to the next level.
It’s a bid to give vacation-starved travellers their travel fix, and an innovative way to resuscitate the aviation industry. Ask anyone one year ago and they'd probably brush this off as a ludicrous idea. But during the Covid-19 crisis where there’s nowhere people can travel to anyway, this could either be a glorified cable car ride or a fantastic way to satiate that wanderlust, depending on which end of the spectrum you’re on.
#1: People paid almost $300 to fly from Taipei to Taipei on a Hello Kitty plane
It’s rare to be able to get on a plane these days, much less one of EVA Air’s popular Hello Kitty flights. Not for passengers in Taiwan who recently got on a couple of Hello Kitty flights in Taipei but weren't really going anywhere.
EVA Air has operated, not one, but two flights on its Hello Kitty planes which took off from Taipei at 10.30am and landed in the same location at 1.15pm. The flights, which took place on Aug 8 and 15, flew over some of Taiwan’s attractions such as Guishan Island. Passengers also got a glimpse of the picturesque eastern coastline of Taiwan, and a peek at Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, then landed at Taipei’s Taoyuan Airport. Tickets reportedly cost 5,288TWD (S$264) for an Economy ticket and 6,288TWD (S$292) for a Business Class seat.
Who misses plane food?
Passengers onboard got the full flight experience, including receiving kawaii Hello Kitty and airline amenity kits, and even a full meal service (meals served included a chirashi rice set designed by Michelin-starred chef Motoke Nakamura and beef sambal noodles), maybe even blocked ears (the A330 jet cruised at an altitude of up to 25,000 feet).
The inaugural flight on Aug 8 was operated as a Father’s Day celebration (which takes place on Aug 8 in Taiwan), though the dads probably weren’t the ones who were the happiest on the flight.
Merch, anyone?
Who would book a flight to nowhere, you ask. Among the passengers on the Aug 15 flight was a couple, who took it as an early Chinese Valentine’s Day celebration, a man who took his 90-year-old mother, and a member of the airline’s loyalty programme who had not travelled in over a year, according to a press release.
The Hello Kitty flights aren’t the first flights to nowhere in Taiwan. In June, Taipei’s Songshan Airport launched a faux vacation experience. Ninety guests were given the chance to tour the airport, go through a mock immigration process, and even board and disembark the plane. The only difference? The plane never took off and stayed on the tarmac the whole time.
#2: A 12-hour joy ride between Australia and Antarctica
Going to the Antarctica and back within half a day sounds like a cool idea. From November, Australians will be able to hop on a 12-hour flight to see the Antarctica from the air, and then turn around and go home. And they won’t even have to take their passports along, since they’ll land right where they took off. How's that for an epic day trip?
Qantas and tour operator Antarctica Flights are planning to revive their sightseeing flights which were halted due to Covid-19 (the scenic journeys have been ongoing for the past 26 years). Privately-chartered Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliners will fly passengers from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to the Antarctica, see the sights of icy continent from up in the air, and send them straight home.
There will be seven flights scheduled between November and February, during the frozen continent’s peak daylight summer months. Prices range from A$1,199 (S$1,184) for an Economy seat to A$7,999 (S$7,898) for the best seats in Business. It includes two full meal services and a full bar service. We can't imagine the need for in-flight entertainment when the view outside is so spectacular, but it's included in the package anyway.
What about the poor passengers without window seats, though?
There will be a seat rotation midway through the flight for most of the passengers, so the majority onboard will get fair viewing opportunities. Well, except for those who buy lowest tiered tickets, which gives them seats with no windows, and they are not eligible for the seat rotation. For guests who do get to swap seats, extra headrest covers and sanitising wipes will be provided for the change.
This is just one of the safety measures introduced to curb the transmission of Covid-19. Other hygiene precautions include requiring all passengers to fill up a health declaration form and have their temperature taken before embarking the plane. Some seats will also be blocked to allow for social distancing.
Try to resist the urge to sing the Frozen theme song during this flight
The first sighting of Antarctica usually happens about three hours into the flight, according to reports. For about the next four hours, travellers will also get a glimpse of icerbergs and the mountainous interior of the continent. Organisers say that the aircraft will fly in sweeping ‘figure-eights’ over various points to allow for better viewing on both sides of the plane.
Photos: Facebook/EVA Air, Antarctica Flights
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