Airline review: Sprint Air Saab 340 economy class, Hemavan to Stockholm

Feeling like a frequent flyer on Sprint Air - my review of Sprint Air Saab 340 economy class from Hemavan (HMV) to Stockholm (ARN)
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01. Trip report introduction
02. Sprint Air Saab 340 economy class, Stockholm to Hemavan
03. Photo Essay: Hiking in Lapland
04. Sprint Air Saab 340 economy class, Hemavan to Stockholm
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Hemavan (HMV) to Stockholm (ARN)

Date: 2018-07-30
Flight number: HP672
Aircraft: Saab 340
Registration: SP-KPR
Age of aircraft: 29 years
Duration of flight: 2:11 (gate to gate)
Seat: 5A (economy class)

Seat map with my seat (5A) in red. Courtesy of Seatguru.com

(Just like last flight, I borrowed the seat map from an old United Saab 340. The layout was exactly the same on Sprint Air's version.)

After hiking for a few hours, it was time to head back to the airport for our flight back to Stockholm. The airport of Hemavan (HMV) is extremely small, and probably the smallest airport I've ever been at. We arrived with almost an hour to go until scheduled time of departure, and after check in, a quick change of clothes and passing through security, it was almost time to board. It turned out that we would have the same crew on this flight as we had on the flight this morning.

Most of the departures hall is seen in this photo ;)

Hello, SP-KPR! We meet again...

Always a challenge to fly the same route/aircraft again and try to make the trip report a little different... Let's see if we can make this any different than my last trip report...

This time, we chose to sit on the left hand side of the aisle, with the single seats, so we picked 4A and 5A. The aircraft had been standing out in the sun on the tarmac the whole day though, so the heat was almost unbearable! And the air nozzles didn't provide any air until we were way up in the air...

This is how the Sprint Air Saab 340 cabin looks empty

Seat detail

Leg room was the same on this side of the aisle...

My seat for this flight back to Stockholm

That building to the left is the whole airport. Yup, smaller than both INI and THN...

Getting a nice view of the propeller from seat 5A

We pushed back four minutes ahead of schedule, and soon found ourselves airborne. Just like on our flight here, the ascent was fairly quick, and the fasten seatbelt sign was soon switched off.

We have lift-off!

Gorgeous views of the landscape on our ascent 

Bye-bye, Lapland!

Just like on the previous flight, the snack service started just 10-15 minutes after take-off. The flight attendant, Katarzyna, recognised me from the earlier flight, and laughed a little as she handed me my chocolate pastry. And since I wanted to make this trip report a little different, instead of coffee and water, I had tea and orange juice this time around ;)

Looking towards the front of the cabin

Chocolate pastry, but no sandwich - the roll this morning must've been a breakfast special

Orange juice

Really good tea!

While I didn't really care for the orange juice (you know I'm more of an apple juice guy), the tea was actually really good. And just a minute or so after finishing it, I was offered a refill. Well done, Katarzyna! Maybe it's a service that Sprint Air offer their frequent flyers ;)

Wing view from seat 5A

The captain made an announcement on this flight too, where he apologised for the cancelled flights the day before. As he explained in a thick accent, the weather in Hemavan had been terrible, and "it was too danger and risk the lives and aircraft". Luckily, the speaker system worked just fine on this 29-year-old aircraft, so the announcements made were easy to hear.

After having the tea and pastry, I actually napped for a while. And then I did what I do to differentiate two otherwise very similar trip reports. I visited the lavatory. And (surprise, surprise!) it looks like we have a winner! After complaining about the sizes of lavatories on CRJ:s and the F50, I've found the smallest one yet. Once inside, it was almost impossible to turn around. And there wasn't even a tap and sink installed, but a couple of wet wipes were provided.

And the award for smallest airplane lavatory goes to...

In this photo, I'm standing with my back against the wall. This is literally all of the lavatory!

On my way back from the lavatory, I switched to seat 3A, to get a slightly better view. This flight wasn't nearly full, so there were some seats free. The descent was uneventful, and we landed on runway 08 a few minutes behind schedule (despite taking off ahead of schedule...)

The fuselage of the aircraft mirrored...

Getting closer to Stockholm

Passing runway 01L/19R which was closed for maintenance this summer

Landing on runway 08

Thanks for this ride, SP-KPR!

It had been a pleasure to fly with Sprint Air. The aircraft felt quite fresh, the snack service was good, and I was happy to have flown on yet another aircraft type as well as a new-to-me airline. The surroundings in Hemavan were also gorgeous, so this had been a great trip indeed. One week later, it was time for my dad and me to make a similar trip from Arlanda's terminal 3. That trip report is coming soon!