Kínverska mafían

People who know me well are aware that I am kind of a flight fanatic, at least when it comes to collecting miles. 2010 has been a great year for the air travel industries, although not for my dear beloved and me who has not travel as little since 2007. This year I travelled only half the distance I did in 2008 when I did ca 190000 km in 66 legs. For accumulated statistics please visit here.

Older entries on related subject
2009
2008

But here here are the key figures of the year:

Flight Distances
In Kilometer: 87,298
Earth Circumnavigation: 2.18 x
Distance to the Moon: 0.227 x
Distance to the Sun: 0.0006 x

Flight Time
Hours 121:06
Days 5.0
Weeks 0.7
Months 0.17
Years 0.014

Flights
All 48
Domestic 5
Intra-Continental 21
Intercontinental 8
Other flights 1

Longest Flight (distance): 7,202 km, 8:30 h, Beijing (Capital) – Copenhagen (Kastrup), 13.03.2010
Longest Flight (duration): 8:30 h, 7,202 km, Beijing (Capital) – Copenhagen (Kastrup), 13.03.2010
Shortest Flight (distance): 342 km, 0:53 h, Oslo (Gardermoen) – Stavanger (Sola), 29.10.2010
Shortest Flight (duration): 0:53 h, 342 km, Oslo (Gardermoen) – Stavanger (Sola), 29.10.2010
Fastest Flight: 847 km/h, 7,202 km, 8:30 h, Beijing (Capital) – Copenhagen (Kastrup), 13.03.2010
Slowest Flight: 387 km/h, 342 km, 0:53 h, Oslo (Gardermoen) – Stavanger (Sola), 29.10.2010
Average Flight: 1,819 km, 2:31 h

Top Ten Airports
# Airport Amount %
1 ARN Stockholm 25 26.0 %
2 CPH Copenhagen 14 14.6 %
3 PEK Beijing 12 12.5 %
4 TAO Qingdao 10 10.4 %
5 OSL Oslo 8 8.3 %
6 ORD Chicago 4 4.2 %
7 KEF Reykjavik 4 4.2 %
8 GOT Gothenburg 3 3.1 %
9 KLR Kalmar 2 2.1 %
10 VIE Vienna 2 2.1 %

Top Ten Airlines
# Airline Amount %
1 SAS Scandinavian Airlines 27 56.2 %
2 Air China 9 18.8 %
3 Continental Airlines 2 4.2 %
4 Blue1 2 4.2 %
5 Icelandair 2 4.2 %
6 Austrian 2 4.2 %
7 Shangdong Airlines 2 4.2 %
8 Shanghai Airlines 1 2.1 %
9 United Airlines 1 2.1 %

Top Ten Aircraft
# Aircraft Amount %
1 Boeing 737 21 43.8 %
2 Airbus 340 6 12.5 %
3 McDonnell Douglas-82 5 10.4 %
4 Fokker 100 2 4.2 %
5 ATR 72 2 4.2 %
6 Boeing 757 2 4.2 %
7 Airbus 321 2 4.2 %
8 Boeing 767 1 2.1 %
9 Airbus 330 1 2.1 %
10 Airbus 319 1 2.1 %

Top Ten Routes
# FlightPath Amount %
1 CPH – ARN 5 10.4 %
2 ARN – CPH 4 8.3 %
3 TAO – PEK 3 6.2 %
4 PEK – TAO 3 6.2 %
5 CPH – PEK 2 4.2 %
6 OSL – ARN 2 4.2 %
7 ARN – OSL 2 4.2 %
8 GOT – ARN 2 4.2 %
9 PEK – CPH 2 4.2 %
10 PEK – ARN 1 2.1 %

Additional Data
Total Airports 17
Total Airlines 9
Total Aircraft type 13
Total Routes 32
Total Countries 7

Top Ten Routes
# FlightPath Amount %
1 CPH – ARN 5 10.4 %
2 ARN – CPH 4 8.3 %
3 TAO – PEK 3 6.2 %
4 PEK – TAO 3 6.2 %
5 CPH – PEK 2 4.2 %
6 OSL – ARN 2 4.2 %
7 ARN – OSL 2 4.2 %
8 GOT – ARN 2 4.2 %
9 PEK – CPH 2 4.2 %
10 PEK – ARN 1 2.1 %

World map:

Europe map:

Sweden domestic:

China domestic:

Outsource logic #1:
I typed my passkey wrong 3 times and I get locked out. To reopen it, I have to contact the IT Helpdesk (normally in the basement of an office building, but that is not the point) and they will unlock my account. Later they’ll send me an incident report (yes, for reminding my stupid mistake again and to prove themselves useful) and probably charge the company $$$ for the hardwork they had to perform. And guess who decided that you have to have 12 letter combination with Aa_-”#$34 in the most difficult way possible?

Outsource logic #2:
I wanted to fly home to Sweden with short notice (it does not mean that I am flying home this weekend) but the tickets are almost sold out so I picked up the cheapest business class ticket I can find. Later I get a travel report from our new (outsourced) travel agency stating that the saving was about 50.000 SEK because ONE airline would have charged 60.000 SEK. And due to my weakness of home sickness, the travel agency triumphs for being able to sell me “cheap” ticket and corporate travel can brag about that they selected the hard working travel agency who saved company $$$. And yes, I get to see my friends.

The Chinese New Year was celebrated country wide last week and finally the workers are turning back to the construction site and the wheels are once again rolling again. I celebrated the New Year at my grans along with other relatives. This was the first time I celebrated the Chinese New Year in China since we moved to Iceland twenty years ago. It was a nice holiday but still I prefer the Western Christmas over the Chinese New Year if I had to choose between them. I guess this is somehow the result of twenty years of western assimilation.

Among other news is that I have moved to my apartment, the very same one I mentioned in last post, but greatly improved with new wallpapers great cleaning effort (not by me though). I will soon post pictures of it so you can enjoy it with me. The apartment is very big, 90 m2 with two bedrooms and a large living room with a balcony. All guests are welcome to stop by any time.

I stayed only one night in the apartment because I went for another work trip to visit my previous plants in China, that is the one in Sichuan and the other one in Chongqing. Some of you will without any doubts remember what happened in those two sites, especially the latter one.

Ég lofaði að ég myndi tjá mig við og við hér í skugga Facebook bannsins, bæði í landinu og hjá fyrirtækinu. Ég er sem sagt búinn að sitja af mér tvær vikur af þeim sex mánaða vist í Rizhao og farinn að koma mér fyrir. Stærsta vandamálið er íbúðin. Sú íbúð sem mér var “úthlutað” er því miður ekki eins fögur og sagt var frá í auglýsingunni: rakaskemmdir, myglaður ísskápur og 1 cm ryk. Ofanálagt er ekki hægt að koma fyrir þvottarvél með góðu móti. En nú á að gera við skemmdirnar og mála íbúðina upp á nýtt, splæsa í nýjan ísskáp. Vona svo að ég geti flyst inn fljótlega eftir áramót, þeirri kínversku.

1. Kosningarklúðrið í Framsókn
2. Að það þurfti lagabreyting til að þvinga Davíð frá Seðlabankanum. Reyndar pældi ég ekki í því fyrr enn Davíð varð nýr ritsjóri Morgunblaðsins.
3. Icesave frumvarpið var tekið aftur fyrir á Alþingi vegna þess að Hollendingar og Bretar höfnuðu fyrirvörunum.
4. Essasú
5. Baugur varð gjaldþrota en það kom mér þó ekki á óvart
6. Dagur B. Eggertsson varð varaformaður Samfylkingarinnar.
7. Álftarnes varð gjaldþrota.

Lykiltölur fyrir flugferðirnar mínar fyrir árið 2009 (flugstats fyrir 2008 finnst hér). Ég náði ekki að fljúga með A380 eins og ég ætlaði mér en spottaði hins vegar vélina á Charles De Gaulle í París. Flugin í ár fækkaði úr 64 í 52 og það skýrir að hluta til fækkun farþegana hjá SAS og Icelandair. Ég flaug líka miklu styttra, úr 188 Mm í 113 Mm enda fór ég hvorki til Ástralíu né til Bandaríkjanna. Nýir áfangastaðir á árinu: ZUR (Zürich, CH), LYR (Svalborða, NO), MRS (Marseile, FR), TAO (Qingdao, CN), NRT (Tokyo, JP).

Flight Distances
In Miles 70,203
In Kilometer 112,981
Earth Circumnavigation 2.82 x
Distance to the Moon 0.294 x
Distance to the Sun 0.0008 x

Flight Time:
Hours 152:09
Days 6.3
Weeks 0.9
Months 0.21
Years 0.017

Flights:
All 52
Domestic 5
Intra-Continental 34
Intercontinental 8
Other flights 5

Longest Flight (distance): 8,787 km, 10:16 h, Shanghai (Pudong) – Munich (Franz Josef Strauss), 07.04.2009
Longest Flight (duration): 10:16 h, 8,787 km, Shanghai (Pudong) – Munich (Franz Josef Strauss), 07.04.2009
Shortest Flight (distance): 250 km, 0:47 h, Akureyri – Reykjavik (Domestic), 29.07.2009
Shortest Flight (duration): 0:47 h, 250 km, Akureyri – Reykjavik (Domestic), 29.07.2009
Fastest Flight: 856 km/h, 8,721 km, 10:11 h, Copenhagen (Kastrup) – Tokyo (Narita), 06.02.2009
Slowest Flight: 319 km/h, 250 km, 0:47 h, Akureyri – Reykjavik (Domestic), 29.07.2009
Average Flight: 2,173 km, 2:56 h

Top Ten Airports
# Airport Amount %
1 ARN Stockholm 28 26.9 %
2 CPH Copenhagen 12 11.5 %
3 PEK Beijing 10 9.6 %
4 OSL Oslo 8 7.7 %
5 KEF Reykjavik 8 7.7 %
6 MUC Munich 4 3.8 %
7 NYO Stockholm 4 3.8 %
8 RNB Ronneby 4 3.8 %
9 CTU Chengdu 2 1.9 %
10 SXF Berlin 2 1.9 %

Top Ten Airlines
# Airline Amount %
1 SAS 26 50.0 %
2 Lufthansa 6 11.5 %
3 Icelandair 5 9.6 %
4 Ryanair 4 7.7 %
5 Air China 4 7.7 %
6 SWISS 2 3.8 %
7 China Eastern 1 1.9 %
8 Air Iceland 1 1.9 %
9 Iceland express 1 1.9 %
10 Malmo Aviation 1 1.9 %

Top Ten Aircraft
# Aircraft Amount %
1 Boeing 737 23 44.2 %
2 Airbus 340 6 11.5 %
3 Boeing 757 5 9.6 %
4 Airbus 320 4 7.7 %
5 Airbus 321 4 7.7 %
6 Boeing 747 2 3.8 %
7 McDonnell Douglas-80 1 1.9 %
8 McDonnell Douglas-87 1 1.9 %
9 Airbus 319 1 1.9 %
10 Fokker 50 1 1.9 %

Top Ten Routes
# FlightPath Amount %
1 ARN – CPH 4 7.7 %
2 CPH – ARN 3 5.8 %
3 KEF – ARN 3 5.8 %
4 OSL – ARN 2 3.8 %
5 ARN – KEF 2 3.8 %
6 ARN – OSL 2 3.8 %
7 ARN – RNB 2 3.8 %
8 CPH – KEF 1 1.9 %
9 LYG – PEK 1 1.9 %
10 CPH – NRT 1 1.9 %

Additional Data
Total Airports 25
Total Airlines 11
Total Aircraft type 14
Total Routes 41
Total Countries 10

Booking classes: Economy 42 Business 9 First 1
Seat: Window 18 Middle 7 Aisle 22
Flight as: Passenger 52 Crew 0 Pilot/Cockpit 0
FlightPurpose: Personal 31 Business 21 Virtual/simulator 0

I was so happy to see my iMac yesterday that I hugged him when I came home last night. It feels good to be able to log on to Facebook and to see Youtube again since these sites are blocked in China. It wasn’t hard to bypass these blocks, at least not Facebook, but my dear beloved employer, AkzoNobel (Eka), has also blocked Youtube so I can’t bypass it by using company’s proxy servers in Sweden.

And indeed, I find my company’s IT policy some time as dumb as the China’s attempt to censure the internet. I don’t like any kind of censorship, not even to same bandwidth.
–
I will soon be back to Iceland for the holidays, with a stop in Copenhagen this weekend to see some of my friends. Luckily the Copenhagen summit will be over by then and I won’t be beaten by the police.

Ástarstjörnu
yfir Hraundranga
skýla næturský.
Hló hún á himni,
hryggur þráir
sveinn í djúpum dali

…
Jónas Hallgrímsson 1807 – 1845
—
All the week I have been having classroom training for our client’s personnel, basically teaching them how to run the plant once it is ready. I have been avoiding working as an interpreter since I don’t want people to recognize me as such, but more as a serious engineer. Nevertheless, people like to bring the questions to me so I can translate them to the Swedes. I guess I have to work harder to convince them that I am capable too.

Doing these classroom training sessions aren’t so hard if you know the process well, but I still get questions that I can’t answer on myself but luckily I have my colleague with 30 years of work experience by my side. Sometime I wonder if it is better – for my appearance, not for the sake of their apprehension – that I do the whole training by myself without any back-up. But I guess sometime you have to put your own pride aside for the greater good.

I will leave Rizhao on Saturday and head back to Europe for the holidays. First I will make a short stop at my relatives in Lianyungang and then fly the same night to Beijing, probably staying at my friend’s place. Then I will fly back to Stockholm, connecting at Frankfurt. Few days there and then to Copenhagen for a weekend (pleasures only) before I fly to Iceland. Only five flights left this year!

Today 7:00 am

10 days ago at 7:00 am

Most of the days it is like this

Dear comrads!

The wheel of people’s power of great China cannot be stopped.
—
Unlike other Chinese project I have participated, this one is has a complexity above all the others. One example is the human resources: I am here along with over six other engineers from Sweden along with other several other Chinese engineers – during the early phase of the commissioning of the plant! Compared to the commission/start-up I participated in December last year, we were only 2 from Sweden and one from China. I can only say that it feels good when you get all the resources you need to do a god job. Unfortunately, I am not supposed to public the progress at site on my own blog since much of our work is confidential.
—
On Thursday, I and another colleague of mine went to Suzhou (city) for a medical check in order to obtain a working permit in the motherland. Suzhou is the second largest city of the Jiangsu province with almost 1.4 million inhabitants with the city area, after Nanjing with little over 3 million inhabitants. Suzhou has grown so fast during the past decades that it has almost grown together with Shanghai which is the metropolitan city of the region, but Shanghai city is a self-governed region. The whole Shanghai delta region, with city regions like Nantong, Ningbo, Hangzhou and Wuxi has a population about 50 – 70 million in an area equal to size Belgium (who has about 10 million inhabitants).

We drove there with our driver for almost six hours before we finally reached the destination. They journey back was even longer because we took a took the pram over the Yangtse river instead of driving over the highway bridge. It has been 14 years since last time I crossed the largest river of China by boat and it felt quite special. Then itt was in Anqing, a city 350 km upstream the river, where my father grew up. The river is much narrower than in the Suzhou so the stream there is more stronger and some time you can see big tides splashing on the banks, specially during raining seasons. The boat trip from Suzhou to Nantong took about half an hour so one can imagine how broad the river is. And since it was a smoggy day, you can’t see the other bank.

This is the ugly part of the industrialization of China.
—