Airport, Estonia, Good for Business, Latvia, Tourism, Transport

"The long-term goal of airBaltic is to connect the Baltic countries with almost any point in the world without layovers," Alise Briede, head of communications at airBaltic, said when commenting on state-owned Estonian carrier Nordica's decision to discontinue flying on another five routes from fall.

The Latvian carrier is promising to continue offering affordable plane tickets to Estonian passengers.

"We continue to see very strong demand on the Estonian market, and a couple of months ago we also became the number one airline. airBaltic maintains its market leadership position to develop connections between the Baltic states and the rest of the world. By offering the best connections from Tallinn, we will continue to develop business and leisure opportunities from the Estonian capital," Briede added.

airBaltic is offering direct flights from Tallinn to Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Malaga, Oslo, Paris, Riga, Stockholm, Vienna and Vilnius. A direct flight from Tallinn to Salzburg will be added from next winter.

Nordica announced on Friday that it is about to discontinue flying on five unprofitable routes -- Tallinn-Kiev, Tallinn-Copenhagen, Tallinn-Trondheim, Tallinn-Vienna and Tallinn-Vilnius -- at the end of October.

Besides, Nordica and Polish airline company LOT have signed a renewed cooperation agreement under which LOT will take over the management of ticket sales and customer service for Nordica, while Nordica will focus solely on operating flights.

As a result of the reorganization, five unprofitable routes will be suspended from the end of October until an improvement in the competitive situation. Flights will continue from Tallinn to Stockholm, Brussels and Warsaw, which will be serviced by LOT from July 1.

Describing the move as a forward-looking business decision, Kristi Ojakaar, member of Nordica's management board, said Nordica had a duty to ensure its own profitability and sustainability, as this was what the owner expected of it.

"Strong competition and oversupply of seats on Tallinn routes do not allow us to operate profitably today. In order to maintain readiness and our ability to provide the necessary regional air connections to Estonia in the future, Nordica will continue to provide air services and LOT will deal with routes and ticket sales and will carry the commercial risk," Ojakaar said.