SAS cancels Tallinn flight line

  • 2008-05-28
  • By Marge Tubalkain-Trell

Swedish retreat: Swedes wanting to travel to Tallinn will have to travel Estonian style in future.

TALLINN - Scandinavian Airlines announced that they are canceling all flights between Stockholm and Tallinn. Estonian Air, meanwhile, is rushing to fill the gap by drastically increasing flights between the two cities.
"Stockholm Arlanda is one of the most important airports in  the region besides Copenhagen. That is the reason we are interested in developing the route by offering more flexibility to travel between two countries and more flexibility planning connecting flights," said Ilona Eskelinen, spokesperson from Estonian Air.

SAS has decided to cancel the flights because larger planes are not as effective on such a short route. 
"Unfortunately, the SAS Group doesn't have a plane type that is suitable to operate on such a short route as that. Today we use bigger plane types that are not effective considering the needs of the market," said Katrin Luhaaar, SAS Estonia manager.
The decision by SAS was not a total surprise to Estonian Air. The company started working on new flight possibilities and opportunities as soon as they heard the news.
They announced on May 26 that they are prepared to add more flights between Stockholm and Tallinn.
Eskelinen said that the ongoing cooperation between Scandinavian Airlines and Estonian Air will continue in the future.

Estonian Air is currently working on a new flight timetable with the goal of adding extra flights between Tallinn and Stockholm by the end of August.  The number of flights will increase to five per day 's with some variation depending on the day of the week and the season.
At the moment, there are up to four flights per day. Since Estonian Air has Boeings and SAABs 's which have up to 33 seats 's available in their park, flights between the cities will use both types of aircraft.
SAS will still be interested in Tallinn since it was an important destination for them.
"Surely Tallinn will stay in the list of important destinations for us, which we look over when new possibilities are open," said Luhaaar.

Estonian Air is the national carrier, and the controlling stake in the company in owned by the state. Last year, it served 57 percent of the country's flights and 70 percent of passengers.  In the first four months of the year, Estonian Air served 228,105 passengers 's 17.2 percent more than the same time year ago.
Scandinavian Airlines was the first international airline offering flights between Tallinn and Stockholm. The last flight will be on June 29.