Swedish baby born in skies above Kazakhstan

“Everything went well,” said Finnair spokesperson Hanna Kaisa Nurmi to the TT news agency about Thursday’s high-flying birth.

Calling a cab wasn’t an option when the expectant mother suddenly realized “it’s time” at 11,000 metres. Instead, the Finnair flight crew made a call of a different kind.

“We asked over the public address system if there were any doctors on board,” said Nurmi.

Luckily for the mother, there were two doctors – and two nurses – aboard the flight from Bangkok to the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

The mother was taken to the back of the plane where the makeshift birthing team connected to a MedLink satellite medical service to help guide them through the delivery.

“There was a plan B,” said Nurmi: landing in Moscow.

But an unscheduled stop wasn’t needed, as both mother and daughter came through the birth in good health and good spirits, and the plane continued on to Helsinki.

“There was an ambulance waiting there which took the baby and mother to the hospital for a check-up,” said Numri.

According to the Metro newspaper, Finnair was so thrilled to have been a part of the mile-high adventure that it offered the happy family a free return trip to Bangkok.

Now all that remains is to settle on what to write on the newborn’s birth certificate as a place of birth.