Airport, Estonia, Legislation, Lithuania, Transport

Transaviabaltika will start operating the services to Kuressaare, capital of Saaremaa Island, and Kardla, capital of Hiiumaa, at the beginning of June.

In accordance with the terms of the tender, the size of the subsidy on the Tallinn-Kuressaare-Tallinn route is 1,980 euros and on the Tallinn-Kardla-Tallinn route 1,520 euros per departure. The frequency will remain unchanged at 12 flights per week for each of the two services.

Transaviabaltika will use a 19-seat Jetstream-3200 as the main aircraft and a 19-seat LET L-410 as substitute aircraft to operate the routes. The latter may also be used as the main aircraft at the beginning of the contract period depending on when the agreements with the county governors are signed.

The routes were previously operated by the Estonian carrier AS Avies, whose air operator's certificate was suspended by the Civil Aviation Administration at the beginning of April.

According to the timetable of flights, the morning flight from Kardla will depart at 7:45 and the morning flight from Kuressaare at 9:30. From Tallinn, the flight to Kardla will depart at 5 p.m. and the flight to Kuressaare at 6:35 p.m. On weekends, the morning departures will take place later. The contract with the winner of the tender to restore the air link with the large islands will be signed for the period until May 31, 2019.

At the same time the ministry is conducting a broader analysis on how to ensure quality regional air connections in Estonia in the future. A new public procurement tender to award the contract for the period after May 2019 will be held in 2018.