Estonian Air has until April to submit its rescue plan

  • 2013-03-20
  • From wire reports

Estonian Air continues to provide on-time service while negotiating with European Commission.

TALLINN - The management and council of Estonian national carrier Estonian Air have till April 18 to think of how to keep the company operating since that is when the government expects its restructuring plan, Postimees writes.
That is the date Prime Minister Andrus Ansip mentioned when answering inquiries of MPs in the Riigikogu on Monday. So far Estonian Air council chairman Erkki Raasuke and economy minister Juhan Parts have noted that the plan will be ready soon.

“The government expects a final and sustainable restructuring plan of AS Estonian Air from the economy and communications ministry by April 18 latest i.e. plan A must be complete and finalized,” said Ansip.
The plan is necessary for the state to be able to present to the European Commission a new request to allow the state to help the company out of its difficult state. While earlier, Raasuke has said that 70 million euros would be needed to rescue Estonian Air, by now the sum has fallen to 37 million euros, of which the government has already approved allocating 24.9 million euros.

In the first two months of the year Estonian Air operated 1,850 flights, out of which 796 flights were in February.
In the first two months the regularity of Estonian Air flights was 99.6 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The 15-minute punctuality was 86.1 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year. In February the regularity and punctuality were 100 percent and 87.7 percent, an increase of 3.2 and 1.3 percentage points compared to February last year respectively.

Estonian Air flies to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim. In addition to the above-mentioned destinations, Estonian Air operates flights to Vienna until the end of March.