Airport, Estonia, Latvia, Transport

Vanags estimated that North Hub has completely justified its existence in Helsinki and the next step for the enterprise is to start servicing other airlines beside airBaltic aircrafts.

"North Hub's operations have become significantly more punctual and several other aviation enterprises have already expressed their interest," noted Vanags.

According to him, airBaltic advantage is in lower prices.

"The ground-handling services in Tallinn are currently more expensive than they ought to be," said Vanags, adding that expanding North Hub to Tallinn will be yet another of the company's steps to lower ticket prices.

CEO of Tallinn Airport GH Tiit Kepp admitted that arrival of the competitor will mean the company will have to lose some jobs. He did not, however, see as yet any reason to make redundancies.

At least initially airBaltic is forced to continue co-operation with Talllinn Airport GH.

Kepp estimated that the Latvian airline should continue buying some services from the enterprise.

Erik Sakkov, a member of the management board of the Tallinn Airport, stated that the plans of the Latvian company are rather more positive than negative.

"The strategy of airBaltic is understandable," he commented. "They want to become a more Estonian company, provide services in Estonian and that should be positive for Estonian passengers," added Sakkov.

North Hub will initially provide services to customers of airBaltic and not to other airlines in Tallinn. The European Commission Directive obliges airports that service more than two million passengers per year to open the ground handling services market. Sakkov stated that the competitor of the Tallinn Airport will not receive a green light until this threshold has been reached. Last year, the Tallinn Airport was used by 1.35 million passengers.

"We will certainly be able to exceed the milestone of two million passengers," said Sakkov, adding that then the airport will certainly open the market to competition in ground handling services.