Tartu service axed

TALLINN - Vice president of airBaltic Janis Vanags stated that the airline has decided to cease flights between Tartu and Riga because of the low quality of service provided by Tartu Airport, reports Postimees Online. “Despite the popularity of the flights operated by airBaltic, Tartu Airport has been unable to guarantee a high level of services,” said Vanags.
“The incident [last week] where there was no air controller working at the airport was by no means the first of its kind,” he added.

According to Vanags, the company found it unacceptable to have to cancel more flights from Tartu and asserted that the airport is not working as it should.
CEO of the Estonian Air Navigation Services Company (Lennuliiklusteeninduse) Tanel Rautits refuted the criticism of Vanags, noting that their company started providing the air navigation services in Tartu in the beginning of April 2010, and no such cases had occurred since then.

CEO of Tallinna Lennujaam Rein Loik commented that airBaltic has exploited the problem with air traffic controllers at the Tartu Airport, but he cannot blame the airline for it and understands the Latvian airline’s frustration.
Loik pointed out that airBaltic is not having particularly good times at the moment and in a situation where a company needs to close down some routes and choose which others to continue, the case in Tartu was a good pretext. “The issue with air traffic controllers was a good pretext for deciding not in favor of the Tartu route,” he remarked.

Loik added that he shares the frustration with the behavior of air traffic controllers.