I’m terribly busy drinking mulled wine and making Christmas cookies but luckily Baltic Aviation Academy has risen to the challenge of supplying this week’s post. I hope you enjoy their wonderful collection of airport welcomes as much as I have.

Thank you, Aviation, for Bringing the World Together

At this time of the year airports are filled with people both going out and coming back, but almost every time the end destination is the same – home. The moment of seeing your dear ones is the most precious thing during the holiday season. However, we seldom take a moment to think that pilots and cabin crew members are among those who work the hardest to get you home safe.

In order to show you how much joy we can have thanks to aviation Baltic Aviation Academy has decided to share the most impressive welcome back greetings. Maybe you will get some ideas on the fun ways to meet & greet those who are coming back for Christmas!

• In October of 2010 as part of its brand awareness campaign the T-Mobile team arranged a number of welcome back greetings for passengers arriving to London Heathrow. They used a voice-only live orchestra to perform themed songs to pleasantly stunned passengers. Which guys would not like to be greeted by a bunch off girls singing: ‘the boys are back in town’?

• The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines celebrating its 70th anniversary have also greeted airport visitors at the Portugal Lisbon Airport by arranging a flash mob with the song ‘Be my guest’ from the classic animation, ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

• Who has said that people are the only species which are capable of missing others? The men’s best friends – dogs – also miss their owners. The ‘Military Reunions’ presents just how exciting the dogs really get when they meet their owners after a long separation. The next time you are away, simply remember that those little ones (and their bigger counterparts) are truly missing you.

• Prank collective ImprovEverywhere has once organized a surprise welcome back for total strangers at the John F. Kennedy Airport. Grabbing the first and last names from the car driver signs, they greeted strangers with personalized posters, flowers, balloons, and a 10-foot wide banner reading, ‘Welcome Back.’ After all, surprises must be unexpected!

• Yet another T-Mobile initiative welcoming arriving passengers took place in the London Gatwick airport. A ‘Piano guy’ welcomed total strangers by singing funny improvised songs while they passed him by. Who wouldn’t want to be sung about?

• And definitely the most original welcome back greeting was organized in the Wellington Airport in 2011, when a father welcomed back his son with the Ngati Toa haka. This war cry-dance was composed by Te Rauparaha, a war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand.

If you have ever experienced an impressive welcome back greeting yourself or have arranged one, we encourage you to share it with Baltic Aviation Academy by sending your story at [email protected]

Baltic Aviation Academy wants to thank all the pilots and cabin crew throughout the world and wish all the passengers precious holiday moments. May every coming home be filled with joy, happiness and surprises!

Thanks to Baltic Aviation Academy for this wonderful collection. If you’d like to know more about the academy, just visit http://www.balticaa.com