Airport, Estonia, Latvia, Tourism, Transport

"We discussed whether it would be reasonable to establish a completely separate route, like the one that operated at one point in the past," Liblik said. Another option would be to establish the Riga-Kuressaare-Helsinki route. Liblik referred to the fact that quite a lot of people from Saaremaa go to work in Finland and could be interested in such a travel option.

Negotiations have already been held with air carrier airBaltic, which is currently flying on the Riga-Helsinki route three days per week. "However, there are also several smaller airlines interested in the matter," Liblik said.

He added that the airports in both Riga and Kuressaare are gladly ready to service the flights, the question currently lies in the financial scheme and which airline is to start flying. According to Liblik, the talks are about launching the route already in the upcoming spring.

Saaremaa rural municipality mayor Madis Kallas told Saarte Haal that when it comes to the flight connection between Kuressaare and Riga, this is currently foremost the initiative of the entrepreneurs and the rural municipality of Saaremaa, which has been fully prepared to support the enterprise, has also been kept informed about the developments.

The rural municipality mayor said that the number of tourists and, actually, the life of the whole of Saaremaa has been linked with various transport connections. However, the rural municipality government is currently foremost focused on issues concerning the Kuressaare-Tallinn route tender and communication with airlines.