TALLINN - Having under pressure from low-fare airlines and a passenger capacity overload during peak hours, Tallinn Airport announced on Aug. 30 that it would cut airport fees beginning in November.
The new fees, effective Nov. 1, will be 200 kroons (12.8 euros) per passenger during peak hours and 155 kroons at other times, compared with the uniform fee of 235 kroons per passenger the airport currently charges.
The airport has been suffering from an overload recently as the number of early morning and afternoon passengers has exceeded the airport's planned capacity. "With the new tariff policy we are trying to disperse intensity to non-peak hour periods," Rein Loik, board chairman of Tallinn Airport, said.
EasyJet, the low-cost carrier that this week announced it would start flights from Tallinn on Oct. 27, was one of the main lobbying forces for the reduction.
Still, even these two moves are not expected to fully remedy the problems with peak-time crowds, which is why the airport announced it was planning an extension to the passenger terminal. Loik said that the expansion, which should be completed by 2007, would increase airport capacity twofold.
"It's too early to bring about any precise figures at this point, but if the capacity during peak hours is 450 people per hour, then after the extension is built it should be more than 1,000," Loik said.
