As a long time civil aviation enthusiast and frequent flyer, I have sampled the best and worst of charter airline operations, and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by Air Scandic. The outbound sector departed 20 minutes late (totally acceptable by today's aviation standards) and the inbound leg was bang on time. The in-flight service was no different from any other current charter airline, including those that are perceived to be more stylish by members of the general public.

Both flights were relatively smooth and, the only bizarre occurrence was the fact that the flight-deck crew turned off the seat-belt signs on both legs whilst we were quite clearly still in the initial stages of the climb, this is maybe a trait of Finnish airline pilots, who were on at the business end of the Airbus A300 on both flights. The landing at Manchester was fast and slightly hard, which led to a few expletive gasps and seat grabbing by the more nervy passengers, but any sensible pilot would rather put the aircraft down firmly than softly. So the actual flights themselves were uneventful.

The cabin crew were efficient, smart and friendly but maybe slightly embarrassed by the branding and corporate ID that their employees are currently adapting. My only concern with Air Scandic as a whole, is that the external aircraft livery and internal cabin branding can only be classed as stunningly hideous, whilst these things should not take prime importance in the actual of act of safe air-travel, it would help if the airline bit the bullet and contracted a half decent design team to overhaul their look. The in-flight magazine looked as though it had been designed and proof read by primary school children, and the flight entertainment system was dated and of poor quality.

In order to believe the scaremongery of some of the contributors to this site, Air Scandic currently have two Airbus A300's and the use of two leased Boeing 757's, other charter airlines such as MyTravel (Formerly Airtours) have some aircraft on strength that have older build dates than those used by Air Scandic. So the notion of aircraft "falling out of the air" is not only inconsiderate to future passengers, but also completely unfounded. Whilst an extensive "Technical" fault is understandably very bad news for the smooth running of your holiday, it can be put down to a faulty air conditioning filter or a problem with the aircraft's galleys and toilets, not the drastic and misinformed view that both the aircraft's engines are doomed to catastrophic in-flight failure.

Air Scandic's ops are perceived to be very hit or miss, and there is no doubting that they have had problems with the extensive technical delays that befall a small fleet.

But when things are broken down to the basics, i.e getting you and your bags to and from your destination on time and in one piece, Air Scandic fare no worse than any other UK Charter airline. I would have no hesitation to fly with them again and wish them every success with their future operations.