TALLINN - The widely advertised lowering of fees at Tallinn Airport is not going to benefit passengers since it is the airlines that will save money from the dues, the daily Postimees reported.
The airport announced last week that passenger fees would be cut to 200 kroons (12.94 euros) from the current 235 kroons, and to 155 kroons during non-peak hours.
But the airport has only quoted the 200 kroon fee to international booking systems, the paper wrote, meaning that in November passengers won't, after all, be buying tickets that are 45 kroons cheaper for flights departing between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., and 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Instead, the saving will go straight to the carriers.
The airport has thus advertised something that passengers won't actually be getting, said Leela Lilleorg, vice president of Estonian Air.
"If the aim is to give airlines favorable terms for them to fly to Tallinn, it should be done at the expense of other taxes 's not passenger fees," she explained.
"Right now the impression is that flights outside peak hours are subsidized from the money earned during peak hours, but this is neither consistent with competition rules, nor equal treatment of aviation companies," Lilleorg noted.
Tallinn Airport CEO Rein Loik admitted last week that the differentiation of fees is partly due to the airport's wish to attract low cost airlines, for which airport fees are a matter of strategic importance.
