16.11.2006
Bears on business

Last Tuesday, two koalas were given special treatment at the SAS Scandinavian Lounge on their way to San Diego, USA.

Guests at a business lounge sometimes expect something a bit out of the ordinary. An easy chair, a glass of wine and a sandwich are not always enough, and certainly not when the guests are small, cuddly and furred, as was the case at the SAS Scandinavian Lounge last Tuesday afternoon. These passengers required special treatment, personal assistants and a private room.    The demanding guests at the lounge were two koalas travelling on SAS from Stockholm, Sweden to San Diego in the USA via Copenhagen and Seattle.

They had been on loan to the Skansen Aquarium in Stockholm where they had been a major attraction as the first koalas in Scandinavia. Now three-year-old Teddy and Freddy were on their way back to their home, the San Diego Zoo – one of the leading zoos in the world when it comes to koalas – and they had a three to four hour stopover at Copenhagen.

Feeding time

The two koalas travelled SAS business class on their long trip to the USA as koalas are delicate animals that cannot be transported in the cold cargo hold most other animals must make do with. Therefore, the koalas – like other business class passengers – spent their waiting time at Copenhagen in the lounge, where SAS had prepared a special room for them.

"So far, the koalas have done very well as airline passengers, they seem calm and comfortable. The most important thing is that they eat and sleep during the trip," said animal keeper My Wadström of the Skansen Aquarium during the stay at the lounge.

In the conference room, the koalas were let out of their travel cages by My and her colleague in the hope that they would eat some of the eucalyptus leaves Skansen had brought along, which is almost the only thing these soft, cuddly animals feed on. The koalas seemed both cautious and curious when they moved around on four legs taking in the unusual business class surroundings.

The passengers on SK 937 bound for Seattle had some very unusual fellow passengers and a delicious smell of eucalyptus in the cabin; and under the special circumstances, passengers were treated to stimulating eucalyptus lozenges during the flight. Who said special treatment?