Estonian Air, 9% passenger traffic increase in 9 months of 2015

Estonia's national carrier Estonian Air announced that in the first nine months of this year, it carried altogether 457,998 passengers, out of which 439,996 on regular flights

The total number of passengers increased 9.0% and on regular flights 9.2% compared to the same period last year.

In September 2015, Estonian Air carried 53,913 passengers, out of which 51,212 on regular flights. The number of passengers increased 3.8%, out of which 3.0% on regular flights compared to the same period last year.

"Although the summer holidays’ peak season has ended, we saw very strong demand on our seasonal routes, like Nice and Spilt also in September. The same time the ongoing economic downward trend at Eastern European markets has rapidly changed the market conditions with substantially lower passenger volumes on our St. Petersburg and Moscow routes. Only on Kiev route we have for some time seen positive developments,” said Jan Palmér, CEO of Estonian Air. “We are also happy to see that Estonian Air had positive EBIT for the period from March till the end of September. The Airline has done a big turnaround and with more and more capacity provider contracts we will be able to show Estonian Air as a sustainable and profitable Regional Airline,” added Palmér.

In the first nine months, Estonian Air operated 9,251 flights, which is 12.9% more than during the same period last year. In September, the airline operated 1,157 flights, which is 12.1% more than during the same period last year.

In the first nine months, the regularity of Estonian Air flights was 98.6% and the 15-minute punctuality was 88.4%. In September, the regularity and punctuality were 98.1% and 87.1% respectively.

Estonian Air, Estonia’s national carrier, is the biggest operator at Tallinn Airport. The airline flies regular routes to Stockholm (Arlanda and Bromma), Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim.

Until the end of October 2015, Estonian Air also operates seasonal flights to Munich, Paris, Berlin, Nice, Vienna, Milan and Split.