Santa’s sleigh, her pilots and all 3400 reindeer have departed the North Pole and are now engaged in flight tests over North America. But they are actually headed to Europe this week for load tests.

Load tests are runs of the sleigh loaded with different amounts of weight. They will fly the sleigh over several different kinds of terrain and in all kinds of weather. In fact, I’m told that the geography of Europe is perfect for these kinds of tests. There is great variety there.

We do not yet know what timetable we’re looking at for these tests or how long the test flights will be taking place in Europe. We hope to have an update by mid-week.

We are also looking for an update on the return of Santa’s regular reindeer teams to the North Pole. But no one seems to have any information on that yet. We will keep you posted.

After about a week in South America Santa’s sleigh is now going to head west over the Pacific on its way to New Zealand and Australia. Officials in North Pole Flight Command are not yet ready to say how long the sleigh will fly there.

We still have not learned much about the test flights conducted in South America. They were explained to us as “routine” but the details of those flights remain classified. We also note that Santa was here last week and actually flew the sleigh himself. That is the first time he has flown the sleigh this year and the first time in many, many years that he has piloted the sleigh in a test situation. This is not work that Santa normally does.

Santa seemed to be pleased with the sleigh. He didn’t say much and he left very quietly without saying goodbye to most of us. We assume he has returned to the North Pole.

The absence of more reindeer is not going unnoticed with the test flight teams. They have plenty of reindeer to do the test flights. They are concerned because Santa’s regular reindeer are usually participating in test flights at this time of the year as part of their conditioning to get ready for Christmas.

They have not returned yet to the North Pole and as such cannot yet be added to the flight rotation. Elves here are starting to talk.