People around the world were excited in pleasant anticipation of Christmas. Cities and villages proudly showed their shiny decorations, and Christmas carols came out of every window. The kids played with snow and discussed what Santa would bring them this year. There was a strong Christmas spirit in the air.
And Christmas was near, right behind the corner.
Santa was busy but happy. Elves were doing all kinds of work.
However, lady Elfy, the head elf, looked more worried than usual.
She paced back and forth with her skittering gait while other elves made preparations and packed presents.
Santa walked into the toy factory hall. He saw his main helper acting weirdly.
“What is the matter, my dear?” Santa asked his faithful helper.
“Everything is wrong; we are going to ruin Christmas!” she shouted.
“Ho-ho-ho! That would be a first,” Santa smiled.
“Seriously!” she raised her eyebrows, “How will we fix all matters with the flights planning, the time equalizers’ battery, and checklists? And when did our reindeer have their last medical check-up?”
“Oh, my sugar pot, it is no time to be so dramatic,” Santa said softly. “I know something that can help us.”
“No, Santa, not every problem can be fixed with hot chocolate and marshmallows!” Elfy was desperate.
“Ho-ho-ho! You always make me laugh!” Santa tried not to lose his glasses because of laughing. “I know someone who can fix all our system problems.” He lowered his voice like it was the biggest secret. Silence landed in the room, and all elves prepped their ears.
“Who?” Elfy whispered.
“Little Tommy, of course,” Santa said proudly, “Though he is not so little anymore.”
“I do remember Tommy-the pilot. He kindly asked for the same present every year – an aircraft model.”
“Ho-ho-ho! Aviation is the main passion of this boy’s life.”
“And how can he help us?” the head elf still understood nothing.
“Let’s visit Tommy. He may have a multitool solution for us.”
Tom Verbruggen was working hard in his home office. He was on the phone with his business partner Chris De Rouck discussing KPIs for the following year. Suddenly Tom heard a noise.
“Sorry, Chris, can I call you back later? I think there is somebody in my house.”
“Yea, pal, you have a wife.” Chris giggled.
“Hilarious, she is out with a dog. Very strange. Call you back.” Tom hung up the phone.
He went to the corridor to check the matter. There was nobody. Tom shrugged and went back to his office.
And there was a huge surprise for him.
Santa was sitting comfortably on a big leather chair, and Elfy was trembling out of anxiety.
“What the …”
Santa stopped Tom’s speech with a hand gesture.
“Ho-ho-ho, language, young man. I don’t remember you using swear words, Tommy.”
“Me neither, Santa” Elfy shook her head. “Out of the good list?” she asked Santa and took a scroll out of her pocket.
“Elfy, hold your reindeer,” Santa smiled, “Tommy was just surprised seeing us.” The head elf agreed.
Tom was in shock. His wife believed in paranormal phenomena, but this was another level. That was Santa Claus in the flesh or a hallucination because of too much work and watching too many Christmas movies.
“Santa,” Tom said slowly.
“Yes, my boy,” Santa smiled. “How are your parents?”
“They are fine, thank you, Santa.” Tom didn’t believe what was happening.
“Ho-ho-ho, good-good.”
“And all cousins are good, everyone is good,” Elfy foreshadowed the questions that could follow next. She was impatient. “Santa, could we please go back to our problem?”
“Always ahead of the reindeer,” Santa joked and adjusted his glasses. “Listen, my boy, according to Elfy,” he pointed at the head elf, “we have issues with our sleigh’s system.”
“And please remember roster planning, Santa,” Elfy added, “so each elf knows exactly his job’s tasks.”
“Ho-ho, you are right, my candy jar,” he praised her, and she smiled widely.
“The sleigh’s system?” Tom was confused.
“Yes, Tommy. You are an aviation expert, so we came to you.”
“Could you please help us to fly safely and efficiently without losing precious zeptoseconds?” Elfy specified.
“Sure thing!” Tom decided to follow though he still had a lot of questions. But a good old challenge always took his attention the most. “In that case, we need to call Chris and our team members.”
“Of course, my boy. We will be so flattered to see all your company in motion,” said Santa.
Tom put extra chairs for him and Elfy next to Santa. They sat back and made themselves comfortable, preparing for a long talk.
Chris heard the sound of his laptop. “Finally he calls back,” he thought. He pressed the call answer button and froze in surprise. It was Tom, but with somebody else.
“What the…” Chris mumbled.
“Language, pal !” Tom said.
“Ho-ho-ho, look at you, young man!” Santa exclaimed while looking at Chris. “I can still see your happy face when you first learned to recode.”
“Code, Santa.” Elfy corrected him.
“Ho-ho-ho,” Santa burst out laughing, “too many new words nowadays.”
“Toooom,” Chris was still puzzled.
“I will explain later, “Tom answered. “First thing first. We need to help Santa,” he still didn’t believe he was saying that, “to optimize their sleigh’s system.”
“Ah, that we can do,” Chris fixed his hair and proposed to invite Lennert to join the discussion.
“Ho-ho-ho, the more, the merrier!” Santa was happy. “Anyway, I need to tell Lennert something.”
The laptop screen showed that a call was in progress.
“What the…” Lennert joined the call.
“Language!!!” Tom and Chris said simultaneously.
“Sorry,” Lennert put himself together.
“My boy,” Santa said to Lennert, “please excuse me. I could not gift you a date with Naomi when you were twelve. But she sent her regards and promised to meet you when you grow up. So now it could be the time.”
“No problem, Santa.” Lennert blushed. He definitely knew that Santa was real.
Once again, the guys explained the task to Lennert, and the work began.
“Santa, tell us everything about the system you have now,” said Tom.
“Ho-ho-ho, Elfy knows all about it. I am more into the delivery and checklists process.”
“Ok, then Elfy will work with me,” said Chris.
At first, Chris, with the help of his colleagues Lieven, Russell, and Hariom set up Santa’s sleigh account and added the inspections and equipment. The reindeer were added and got their page too. Now Elfy saw how easily you could manage the full sleigh’s operation. She saw the flight plans and delivery points come to life. Depending on the flights Santa would do, everything would still be ‘in the green’. That means that no inspection or part replacement would need to be done. Every document was digitized and gathered in one place. Now nothing can slip out of sight.
“Holy Candy Cane! Now I can sleep peacefully and will never be afraid that another blizzard will blow all documentation away!” said Elfy.
“Ho-ho-ho, it is good that we saved kids’ letters at least this year!” said Santa.
“So, boys, show me what we have here.” Santa pointed at the laptop screen.
With the help of his friend Dave, Tom explained that in Aviatize, you could use all data to ensure that everything is compliant. The intelligent system will send notifications about what should be done to pass the inspection so you can operate your flights safely and efficiently.
The work was full swing when Tom’s wife, Sasha, suddenly entered the room.
Everyone froze.
“Hi, Santa,” the young woman smiled, “the head elf,” Sasha nodded toward Elfy. “You must be all starving. Will make some sandwiches.”
“My dear,” Santa wanted to say something.
“And hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows,” she winked at Santa and left the room.
“Ho-ho-ho! Sweet little girl, she always believed in magic,” said Santa.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and continued their work.
“Look, Santa,” Tom continued explaining, “here you can see when all reindeer must pass their medical check.”
“But so must Santa,” Elfy said strictly. “Finally, we can prevent Santa from drinking too much hot chocolate,” and she gave Santa “that” look.
“Ho-ho-ho, Elfy always keeps her finger on the Christmas pulse,” Santa laughed.
Elfy examined all sections of the sleigh’s account and exclaimed, “So, you need only one Aviatize account to manage the whole operation?”
“That is correct. Aviatize takes all your administration worries away and gives you the joy of flying!” said Tom. Elfy was satisfied imagining herself drinking the afternoon sweet milk with her baby elves but not stressing out because of paperwork.
“Look, now all boxes are marked in green,” said Lennert, “you are ready to fly Santa!”
“Wait!” Tom shouted. “Weight limitations!”
“There are no limits to the Christmas miracle, my boy!” said Santa and vanished in the hundreds of shiny snowflakes.
“On behalf of the Santa Claus office, I thank you all!” said Elfy and melted in the glittering green dust.
All flights of the Christmas sleigh were perfectly planned so every child could get his present on time. Elfy was glad that all documentation was not lost and was up to date. Maintenance elves never panicked again, as they were warned about future sleigh inspections. The reindeer were happy about regular medicals, as they always got an additional carrot after each check.
And Santa? Santa is more careful now, and instead of 35 marshmallows, he puts only 32 in his hot chocolate. “And this is a significant improvement,” Elfy keeps repeating.
And that is how Christmas was saved, though each participant in this event has a different ending.
“And that’s how I saved Christmas!” Elfy said.
“And that’s how Aviatize helped us to save Christmas,” said Santa.
“And that’s how I met your mother,” said Lennert.
In the bedroom made of gingerbread, baby elves were sitting around Santa and begging to tell them the Aviatize story again.
“No, my little caramelized apples, it is bedtime,” said Santa, and baby elves immediately jumped in their tiny beds.
When Santa almost left the bedroom, he turned around and whispered, “But next time, I will tell you a magical story about Idronect – the drones’ best friend.”
Baby elves clapped in their cute little hands and rushed to fall asleep because Santa would tell a new story tomorrow.
