TALLINN - Lufthansa announced last week that it has re-opened its Tallinn-Frankfurt line and added one more flight to the Riga-Munich route, while beginning May 1 the company will also expand its flights to and from Vilnius.
The company's decision is the latest in a series of industry developments that will dramatically change the airline market after the Baltic states join the European Union.
Robert Karl, Lufthansa's general manager for the Baltics, waxed optimistic about the Estonian air travel market and the German carrier's future on it.
"We are glad to be back in Tallinn. We returned because we believe the overall market trend is on the rise, and because Estonia's EU and NATO membership will contribute to this development," said Karl, adding that the company terminated its Tallinn route in 1998 due to the general recession on the market.
He said the Frankfurt connection would mostly be considered a transit option because Frankfurt itself is not that attractive a tourist destination. On the other hand, while Estonian Air flies to Frankfurt six days a week, mostly in the afternoons, Lufthansa will depart from Tallinn in the beginning of the day and seven days a week.
Today it is possible to fly to 17 European cities directly from Tallinn, and flights to Munich and Milan will become available from mid-May.
Estonian Air announced the opening of a Tallinn-Munich line from May 16, and will add from that date three flights on the Tallinn-London route, increasing the number of weekly flights to London's Gatwick Airport to nine.
Regarding the potential invasion of Western low-fare airlines, Karl said that every company would have such an opportunity, but the low-fare airlines might find it challenging since they will be unable to get the critical mass of travelers in the Baltics.Still, with Latvia's airBaltic announcing it would fly from Vilnius (see story on Page 7) and the new Latvian government eager to attract a discount airline to Riga International Airport, it is clear the industry in about to undergo far-reaching changes.
In order to keep the pace with the airline industry development, Tallinn Airport announced this week that it would invest 400 million kroons (25.5 million euros) into increasing the capacity from 2004 to 2007. Both the airfield and the passenger terminal will be expanded, with half of the total investment to be spent on airfield infrastructure. Some 4,000 to 6,000 square meters will be added to the passenger terminal (which currently has a total area of 14,000 square meters), and the terminal will also be adjusted to the Schengen area requirements.
The expansion works will be financed from the airport's own budget, bank loans and probably from EU funds.
The Tallinn Airport served a record 195,997 passengers from January to March 2003, and the company expects to exceed the 900,000 passenger-threshold this year.
