News Beat
Children take festive Santa Flight from Manchester Airport
The annual ‘Santa Flight,’ organised by Childflight with support from Manchester Airport and TUI, took children aged five to 11 on a journey to the North Pole on Wednesday.
Childflight is a North West children’s charity that provides flights and holidays for children facing illness or difficult circumstances.
This year’s experience took the young passengers on a round-trip flight over the snow-capped peaks of North Wales, which stood in for the North Pole.
Stephen Sefton, chair of Childflight, said: “Myself and the Childflight team are happy to be able to provide the annual Santa Flight for socially deserving children.
“We are grateful for the donations to Childflight via the collection globes at Manchester Airport which fund the Santa Flight and towards our other activities.”
They were entertained by volunteers, including airport staff dressed as Santa’s elves.
Midway through the flight, the wings of the plane gently tipped as though a sleigh had touched down on top of the aircraft.
When the flight landed back in Manchester, Father Christmas appeared and handed out gifts to the children.
Robert Pattison, head of community engagement at Manchester Airport, said: “We are proud to have supported Childflight with the Search for Santa experience again this year, alongside our airline partner TUI.
“This has become something of a festive tradition, but each of the children on board were experiencing it for the first time, and I know the colleagues who take part never get tired of seeing those young people’s joyous reactions when Santa appears.
“Christmas is a special time of year for our passengers, our colleagues and our local communities and it’s important to us that we continue to bring the magic of Christmas to them.”
Alison Freeman, TUI cabin manager, said: “The Search for Santa flight is a really magical experience that we love to be involved with.
“The whole crew find it so rewarding being able to bring some festive cheer to these families and we love seeing the excitement on the children’s faces throughout the entire flight.”
