Eesti in brief

Diminishing booze cruise

Finnish tourists took home 11 percent less alcohol on ships coming from Estonia and Sweden in September than in the same month a year ago, the daily Iltasanomat reports. The biggest decline at 17 percent was recorded in the amount of vodka. At the same time, the amount of beer and cider taken to Finland has decreased only slightly. Beer is still the most popular alcohol taken to Finland on ships.

According to an expert at the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, Esa Osterberg, a law amendment permitting only alcohol for personal consumption to be brought to Finland is behind the decline.

An airport in Narva?

After The Baltic Times reported on the possibility of launching an airport in the Eastern Latvian city of Daugavpils, Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported this week about plans to open an airport in Estonia’s border town of Narva, the third largest town in Estonia, which overlooks the Russian border town of Novgorod.

The possible site would be the Olgina airfield next to Narva, but it only has a grass-covered landing field and is able to accept aircraft weighing up to five tons. The airfield is currently used only by parachutists, but the potential is there, Estonian officials say. Former Prime Minister and Transport Commissioner at the European Commission Siim Kallas said a few months ago at a seminar in Tallinn that Estonia’s next big infrastructure investment should be to build a logistics center in Ida-Viru County, and develop the local airport there.

Vadim Orlov, the head of the Narva Logistics and Industrial Park, told ERR that an air connection to Narva, which is a 2-3 hour drive from Tallinn, would bring in investors.
Veiko Luhalaid, the head of Vaivavara municipality, where the Olgina airfield is located, said that economic activity in the region is great, with a number of industrial parks popping up, in cooperation with the Port of Sillamae and Eesti Energia. He said there will be situations in the future when an airport is necessary.
Luhalaid said there are security concerns as well, and an airstrip could be used by firefighting planes in case of a forest fire.
He added that a detailed plan would be stage one, but finance would be a tough obstacle.