fransknorge

There is an interview with the COO Eivind Roald in this month issue of Airliner World, here are the key points (I think some of this is known):
- for the UK and Spain operation, on union insistence each crew team will have at least one Scandinavian speaking member. All others will be Irish or spanish
- The flights will be to/from Scandinavia, no point to point services
- Wifi will be gate to gate, 12Mb/s, allowing Netflix HD streaming. They are partnering with ViaSat for the implementation.
- Much PR talk about the best business class in the world being SK
- The Future Lounge concept will include a gym, with the first one opening in Q4 in OSL
- SK continues with their idea they can build a whole lot of services around the app to increase socialisation of Eurobonus member. We know about the VoIP crap (anyone using this ?) and heard about the Airbnb one (rent your flat/house to other EB member while you are away). In this interview he talks about grocery shopping order via the app or babysitting against miles between EB members.

klmml

Is the article available online somewhere? I searched but could not find it.

Wifi: good ^

Outsourcing of crew: fine, as long as they are operating within EASA rules and speak English I don't care where they are from

Best business class in the world: um, it's ok I guess...

Future Lounge nonsense: Not heard of this, but people's expectations of lounges are that:
1) they can actually use one when flying SK
2) they have some edible food and drink

1 is no longer the case at many outstations, and 2 has been on the slide for years. Let's fix those before talking about gyms.

App stuff: No. Please, no.

And how about apologising for, and fixing the website?

FlyingMoose

It is far from the best and lacks in many ways. The flaws have been discussed inside out on here and improvements are yet to be made.

Right on.

This should really be their #1 goal.

I can't think of something I want less than a gym in a lounge. This is really the least important and least relevant addition they could possibly add. Fast and stable wifi I can work on, edible food and ensuring no overcrowding are the top priorities.

Seconded!

Seconded again.

So far this shows again that SK has no idea wha they are doing and are acting on ideology instead of customer feedback and basic airline/lounge concepts.

Jespersm

Personally, I think this is a wonderful breaking new idea. Take a look around any lounge and see how everyone is sitting with bent necks staring down their lapstops and tablets. Once in a while jumping up looking wildly for power outlets and wifi codes.
Lounges are (also) made for relaxing, and why not do some workout after working your brains out?

fransknorge

AFAIK, it is not available online.

I agree with much of what has been said in the previous posts.
Fix the basic first, then we can talk about a gym (which I think is a great idea !!) and then after that, some crap non-sense about babysitting EB member's infant in exchange of miles. But SK has a long way to go before being able to afford going this way.

oliver2002

Because they are traveling on work? Why would I work out and then hop on a flight? Or work out while in transit? Transit should be 90-120 min anyway, so that doesn't allow for a workout and shower either?

fassy

Considering the condition of the machines in most commercial gyms in Sweden (based on my last 3 years of Actic membership) I bet that the equipment in lounge gym rooms will be dirty and broken in no time / and there will be no money to clean up or fix them. As a result nobody will use them and all the money invested will be wasted.

CPH-Flyer

In principle, I would not see a gym as a bad idea for a lounge. Cathay has also been mulling the idea at a point. In practical terms, it would be too rare that it would be possible to use a gym during transit.

I wonder if if he has been reading about the Finnair lounge recently and started to think how do we beat a sauna....

klmml

As with many things in the Scandinavian countries, the temptation seems to be always to invest money up-front, but without the budget to maintain equipment on a long-term basis.

Sauna is a bad idea for some of the same reasons a gym is a bad idea - getting hot and sweaty, and perhaps dehydrated, is not the sort of thing you want to do before getting on a long haul flight. For novelty value, the Finnair sauna is great, but it's just a small sauna like you'd find in nearly any Finnish apartment, and it's not heavily used as far as I know.

CPH-Flyer

I have never used the sauna in Helsinki, mainly due to relatively short connection times. And maybe due to the Napue G&Ts.

Like the sauna a gym would have a fairly big novelty value, but it would probably be only that....

Tango Alpha

A gym would be stupid IMHO for several reasons. I am no fan of fitness centers, but when urgent needed, I would do it at home or - for longer trips - at the hotel. Using a gym will in my world need a shower afterwards. That takes time, and you need to plan to bring changing clothes. And then continue with wet and stinking clothes in the carry on….

But they could put up some massage chairs.

I agree with most others: wifi, catering, space, cleanliness…. And lounge at relevant outposts. How difficult can it be.

SK2751

I actually think that a gym on long layovers is a great idea. I searched for gyms in the past at airports for longer layovers, to get my blood circulation to normal. Never succeeded though. Sadly, I would not be able to use the SK gym as I connect rarely in SK hubs, and if so, then it is usually an efficient connection.