Back in HEL’s kitchen and bound for Hong Kong

by Martin Moodie |
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Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

Helsinki Airport (HEL) at 9.26pm on a summer’s night is a barren albeit pristine place.

Almost all the stores and food & beverage outlets are closed despite there being 15 flights between now and 01.25 after which there is a four-hour hiatus until the next one. Passengers are patiently whiling away the hours until their flights, enjoying the slightly surreal experience of broad daylight late into the Finnish night.

It’s Christmas year-round at Helsinki Airport
This chap is truly out for the count. Hope he wakes in time for his flight.
(Above and below) Top international and local food & beverage names but all closed down till tomorrow

But the faithful (and brilliant) Nordic Kitchen soldiers on through the night, bringing solace to many an exhausted traveller
An interesting automated pizza concept, apparently available around the clock

And then, as if by magic, I simply disappeared into Finnair

I’ve set up an Interim Bureau in the Finnair lounge, my home until my flight to Hong Kong in the early hours of Friday. It has a nice, relaxed, emphatically Finnish vibe (and some interesting wines), some decent buffet food (I guess this is the Nordic HEL’s kitchen) and I don’t even have the hassle of having to go through security again. As transit airports go, HEL is heaven.

The website that never sleeps back at work again

The Finnair lounge offers a small but interesting wine line-up, including a typically characterful wine from Gérard Bertrand, the excellent Cité de Carcassonne Chardonnay (right), and an interesting Sauvignon Blanc from Côtes de Gascogne, better known for local grape varieties such as Colombard
Though I confess to also enjoying the very good Bernard-Massard Cuvèe Organic Brut, a Méthode Champenoise sparkling wine from guess where? Luxembourg. Well, my luck is in. Because it’s top class.

My sojourn to the UK is over, a welcome chance to catch up with kids (all now of the adult kind), grandkids and several of my work colleagues. But my life, my wife and my heart are in Hong Kong these days and I am looking forward to an extended stint living out of my home rather than out of a suitcase.

Young Carys Miller files her first story for The Moodie Davitt Report. Watch this space.
And brother Iwan will not be far behind
Band of Brothers (and a son): I am pictured at our long-time spiritual home in Brentford, the peerless La Rosetta Italian restaurant with co-owner Daniel (third from left); then (from left) my longest-serving colleague and great friend Bob Wilby, business partner Dermot Davitt, Managing Director Matt Willey and Head of Digital Delivery Declan Moodie. 
I also took the chance to catch up with our indefatigable Publisher Irene Revilla who has made such a positive difference to our sales operation since joining the company in 2018

The need to turn around a near-3,000 word interview conducted just this morning before I flew out from London this afternoon meant I only got a fleeting glance at the Heathrow commercial offer. However, from what I saw business is in an encouragingly robust state compared to the stark scenes I witnessed on my previous annual returns in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The Heathrow commercial team, led by Fraser Brown, are a class lot and they deserve the good times that are now following, as Dickens would have it, the worst of times.