Airport, China, Estonia, Investments, Transport

On Thursday last week, British weekly The Economist wrote that China has expressed interest in purchasing the shares of Estonian Air that SAS is willing to sell. Since it is The Economist that writes this, there must be something behind this rumors, the daily writes.

“There has been talk and expressions of interest, also we have raised the issue at different transport-related meetings with Chinese ministers. Also when Chinese deputy prime minister Zhang Dejiang visited us at the beginning of November,” said Parts. “But it is difficult for us to evaluate how serious or in which stage this interest is since SAS is the seller,” said the minister who speaks in the name of the Estonian state, which owns 34% of Estonian Air.

The Economist thinks that Estonian Air would mean that the Chinese would have “their own” carrier in the EU and access to cheap airport fees. Parts says the argument is also that Tallinn is the closest EU capital to China when looked at air routes and adds that an aviation company operating in the EU has certain potential since in aviation, rules are very protectionist.

SAS did not comment upon the whole affair. Estonian Air’s council chairman Olev Schults also said that he cannot comment upon “information possibly connected to third parties.”