Estonian Air’s position strengthens on the Estonian market

06.02.2008

Press release

Estonian Air improved its performance significantly on the second half-year in 2007, especially in sales volumes and passenger figure growth, being clearly the driving force behind the passenger growth in Tallinn Airport in 2007.

Estonian Air carried altogether 745 600 passengers in 2007, out of which 651600 on regular flights. The overall number of passenger increased 9% y-o-y, while the second half-year growth figure was 15.7%. The cabin factor of Estonian Air flights improved in 2007 by 2.1 percentage points y-o-y, up to 67.7%.

In 2007 Estonian Air operated 10056 flights, which is 986 more flights y-o-y. The regularity of Estonian Air flights was 99.7%, which is 0.6 percentage points higher than a year before and 1.2 percentage points higher than AEA (Association of European Airlines) members’ average. The 15-minute punctuality of Estonian Air was 80.5%, which is 3.9 percentage points lower than in 2006 but 1.6 percentage points higher than AEA members average.

Thanks to more attractive fares, new destinations and a clearer sales and marketing focus in Estonia, Estonian Air improved its position in the domestic market with a sales increase of 13% over the year and within the last six months of more than 20% compared to 2006. The overall market share at Tallinn Airport in 2007 was 43% and Estonian Air covered approximately 70% of all international non-stop routes starting from Tallinn Airport.

Estonian Air opened 5 new routes in 2007: Tallinn-Vienna, Tallinn-Vilnius, Tallinn-Kuressaare, Kuresaare-Stockholm, Tallinn-Helsinki. Estonian Air doubled its fleet by adding 2 Boeing 737 and 2 SAAB 340 aircraft.

Estonian Air will continue offering attractive direct connections by expanding the network. On February 11, Estonian Air will launch flights to Minsk and in late March and early April flights to Munich and Rome respectively will be introduced. As from April, Estonian Air will serve with non-stop flights altogether 22 destinations throughout Europe.

The most popular destinations in 2007 were Oslo, Brussels, Kiev, Milan, Barcelona and Paris where the number of passengers grew by 13, 28, 29, 58, 40 and 46% y-o-y respectively.

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Estonian Air, Estonia´s national carrier, is offering non-stop flights from the Estonian capital, Tallinn throughout Europe: Barcelona, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Helsinki, Kiev, Kuressaare, London, Milan, Minsk, Moscow, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Simferopol, Stockholm, Vienna and Vilnius – altogether to 22 destinations, and from Kuressaare to Stockholm.

Estonian Air is also operating charter flights to Austria, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Portugal, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, as well as to other holiday areas. Estonian Air is owned by SAS Group, the State of Estonia and the Estonian investment bank Cresco.

 

Additional information:
Ilona Eskelinen
PR Director

AS Estonian Air
Lennujaama 13, 11101 Tallinn
Phone: +372 6 401 178
GSM: +372 5 107 837
Fax: +3726 401 244
pr@estonian-air.ee 
www.estonian-air.ee