Flight delays damage Estonian Air's image

  • 2006-05-03
  • From wire reports
TALLINN - Frequent delays in Estonian Air's flight plan over recent weeks have irritated passengers and prodded many to avoid the airline while planning trips to more distant places, the daily Postimees reported this week. Many people have complained to the press that Estonian Air's flights are constantly delayed or even cancelled, and that the company has failed to inform people about the flight plan.

During the past five weeks, Estonian Air has reported several failures, the last of which was a fault in the hydraulic system of one aircraft in London on April 24.
Margit Loive, outgoing tourism sales director of Baltic Tours, said a number of similar delays have recently annoyed customers. "If there are alternatives, other opportunities are always considered, although the price will frequently be the deciding factor," she said.
Company Vice-President Mart Relve admitted to the difficulties, saying the past five weeks had been the blackest in the company's history.
"There is reaction to each fault, even the smallest, because the requirements are extremely strict," he said. "Neither is it possible to say that our aircraft is outdated, for if our oldest machines are 10 years old 's this is considerably lower than the average age of aircraft."

Relve explained that one of Estonian Air's problems was that there were few aircraft, and they were all of one type. The company is currently flying with four Boeing 737-500s and one 737-300.
Estonian Air posted 65.9 million kroons in earnings last year on sales of 1.1 billion kroons (73 million euros). The company, which is 49 percent owned by SAS, carried 642,700 passengers last year, 18 percent more than in 2004.
Chairman Borge Thornbech said the results had grown across the board. "Sales proceeds have gone up by one fifth, and the profit has nearly doubled," he said, adding that Estonian Air had managed to keep its position despite toughening competition.
According to company data, Estonian Air's market share in Tallinn Airport is 46 percent.
Vice President Mart Relve said that Internet sales were a significant factor in 2005.
The most popular destinations for Estonian Air in 2005 were Copenhagen, Stockholm, London and Oslo.