The leaders of the Estonian national airline Nordica gave the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) an overview of the situation and plans of the company, and the developments in the global aviation.

Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee Sven Sester said that Estonia’s success was not possible without direct connections with the cities of other countries. Nordica was created for keeping these connections, but in Sester’s opinion, the company has distanced itself from its original purpose. “Therefore it is necessary to follow the performance and the setting of new targets of our airline very closely. If foreign airlines are not interested in Estonia and flying to Estonia, Nordica has to stretch its wings, because this is why the company was originally established,” he explained.

Sester added that according to the winter schedule of Tallinn Airport, it was possible to travel to 31 destinations with the planes of 13 different companies, but Nordica’s share in it had fallen to around ten destinations. “Due to competition and other difficulties, Nordica has suspended flights on certain routes, which is definitely not a good sign, but at the same time, the number of destinations together with other airlines is positive – in summer, it was possible to fly direct to 38 destinations, which is a new record of the latest periods,” Sester said.

Deputy Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee Kristen Michal said that Nordica had been born out of the need to keep the connections that were necessary for Estonia, and to do it in a way that would be economically feasible. “The connections from Tallinn and Estonia yield a revenue of 100–200 million euro a year to the economy. The most important aspect for Estonia is having a company that can keep up and create competition, so that Tallinn Airport would work in the interests of customers,” he said.

Michal thinks that, at present, aviation is doing well, and Tallinn Airport has also done good work in creating new routes. “Nordica has to run itself so that, when competition decreases, it is capable of competing in the market – this is also the reason why it was established and is operating,” Michal said.

CEO Erki Urva and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Toomas Tiivel of Nordic Aviation Group AS gave an overview of the situation of the airline to the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu.

Riigikogu pressiteenistus
Veiko Pesur
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