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| Founded | 1 December 1991 [1] | |||
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| Hubs | Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport | |||
| Focus cities | Tartu Airport | |||
| Frequent-flyer program | EuroBonus | |||
| Airport lounge | Business Class Lounge | |||
| Subsidiaries |
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| Fleet size | 9 (+1 order and 2 options) | |||
| Destinations | 27 | |||
| Parent company | Republic of Estonia (90%) SAS Group (10%) | |||
| Headquarters | Lennujaama tee 13, 11101 Tallinn, Estonia |
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| Key people | Tero Taskila (CEO) Jyri Ketola (COO) Wade Stokes(CFO) Rauno Parras (CCO) |
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| Revenue | (EEK 69,424) (2009) | |||
| Profit | (EEK 978,382) (2009) | |||
| Website | www.estonian-air.com | |||
AS Estonian Air is Estonia's national carrier, owned by the Estonian state. The airline is based in Tallinn, Estonia.[2] It is a regional airline feeding into the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) network via Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen from Estonia.
AS Estonian Air has two subsidiaries and two joint ventures: Estonian Air Jet Leasing Ltd which owns airline's aircrafts and in co-operation with the parent company AS Estonian Air Regional operates Saab 340 aircraft and provides commercial air services to the neighboring region; Estonian Aviation Fuelling Services AS provides aircraft fueling services at Tallinn Airport and AS Amadeus Eesti provides distribution system and support to local travel agents.[3]
Estonian Air is owned by the Estonian government (90%) and SAS Group (10%). It has 351 employees (May 2009, including AS Estonian Air Regional).[3] Unlike its affiliated carrier, Scandinavian Airlines, Estonian Air is not a member of the Star Alliance but it is a part of the SAS loyalty programme, EuroBonus.
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The airline was established by the Estonian government with aircraft acquired from the defunct local Aeroflot Division[4] Estonian Air started operation on 1 December 1991 with service to Frankfurt.
In 1992 the airline became a member of IATA and the first Boeing 737-500 was delivered in 1995. The company was partially privatised in 1996 with 66% of shares to Maersk Air (49%) and Cresco investment bank (17%).[3] The company leased two Boeing 737-500s to replace its old Soviet planes, and in 1996, after obtaining two more Fokker 50s, it was able to retire the Soviet fleet entirely.
In 2003 Maersk Air sold its shares to SAS and the Fokker 50s were retired. By 2004 the airline had carried its 500,000th passenger.
In March 2007 Estonian Air announced that they will lease another Boeing 737-500 and serve a new destination, Vienna. Estonian Air has leased two Saab 340s and in June 2008 Estonian Air established a new company Estonian Air Regional. Under that name it added new destinations from Tallinn to Kuressaare, Stockholm, Helsinki and Vilnius. Later on to Saint Petersburg and to Minsk.
In 2008 three new destinations (Minsk, Munich and Rome) were served and the company announced that it was ordering 3 Bombardier CRJ900 NG and further 3 options. On 27 November 2008, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip announced that SAS had approached the Estonian government, urgently requesting a cash injection to save the airline and offering to buy out the government's stake in the airline. The Estonian government is reportedly in negotiations with ferry company Tallink to come up with a counter-proposal.[5]
In 2009 Estonian Air gave up its Vienna, Frankfurt and Simferopol routes. The company closed its ground handling division. New destinations from Tallinn were Amsterdam, Berlin and St Peterburg, new route was Tartu–Stockholm.
In 2010 Estonian Air started cooperation with KLM, announcing new route Tallinn–Vilnius–Amsterdam (starting from 12 February 2010).[6]
In November 2011 Estonian Air announced reopening flights to Riga, 17 weekly flights starting from 25 March 2012, and to Helsinki, 18 flights weekly starting from 26 March 2012[7]. As well as opening flights to Vienna, 6 weekly starting from 25 March 2012, and to Hannover, 6 weekly flights starting from 2 April 2012[8]. It also announced to increase its flights to Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Vilnius starting from March 2012[9] and add extra flights on the Tallinn-Moscow route during the December 2011 holidays[10].
As of 10 May 2010, the government of Estonia and SAS Scandinavian Airlines have agreed to a transaction where the Estonian government has provided additional 21 million EUR in capital to Estonian Air resulting in the stake of SAS in the carrier to decrease from 49% to 10%. At the same time, the two parties have agreed that the Estonian government gets an option to buy the remaining 10% stake from SAS at a later time between now and 2014. Estonian Air and SAS Scandinavian Airlines will continue to cooperate in the same fashion for the time being.[11][12] The short-term aim of the government is to become a leading shareholder and to invest in the company to ensure it's future as Estonian Air is strategically important to the state. In September 2010, Estonian Air announced that they have finally signed an agreement with Bombardier, in which two CRJ-900 NextGen aircraft are going to be delivered in the beginning of 2011 (both planes were delivered in January 2011) and a third one in 2012.[13][14] The agreement with SAS Scandinavian Airlines was signed on 10 September 2010[15] and it took effect on 27 October 2010 when Estonian Parliament ratified 2010 state budget modifications, allocating needed funds for investment. In November 2011 Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts proposed that SAS should follow the state's lead in making substantial investments in Estonian Air. SAS Vice-President Sture Stolen however said that this is unlikely: "We have a good and important partnership with them, but it is not our strategy to be part owners in Baltic airlines".[16]
Estonian Air's new CEO and former AirBaltic chief commercial officer Tero Taskila expects the company to be earning a profit by 2012 after losing money since 2005. According to Taskila the company already took a big step late last year by clearing up its messy leadership issues.[17]
On all Boeing and Bombardier-operated flights there are two service classes onboard
Premium Class cabin is for passengers holding Business or Flexible Economy fare tickets. All passengers are served free breakfast, lunch or dinner and beverages depending on the time of departure. Free alcoholic drinks are served as well (wine, sparkling wine, gin, rum, brandy etc).
Travel Class is for passengers with Economy fare tickets. Free complimentary refreshments are offered: snacks, coffee, tea, water and juice on longer flights, and coffee, tea and water on flights which are shorter than one hour.
Estonian Air offers direct flights from the Estonian capital, Tallinn to throughout Europe: Amsterdam, Barcelona (summer only), Brussels, Copenhagen, Hannover (from 02.04.12), Helsinki (from 24.03.12), Jyväskylä (from 25.04.12), Kiev, Kuressaare, London, Milan (summer only), Minsk, Moscow, Nice (summer only), Oslo, Paris, Riga (from 24.03.12), St Petersburg, Stockholm, Trondheim, Vilnius, Vienna (from 25.03.12) and Tartu.
Estonian Air has strong links with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). It operates frequent flights to SAS hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. The airline boasts "Well connected with SAS" status and the airline's frequent flyer programme is SAS' EuroBonus scheme. Other products and services shared with SAS include co-ordinated timetabling and shared airport lounges. Estonian Air codeshares with SAS on the Tallinn–Stockholm, –Copenhagen, –Oslo and Stockholm–Kuressaare, -Vilnius routes.
See also SAS Group destinations
The Estonian Air fleet includes the following aircraft as of 27 November 2011[18]:
| Aircraft Type | Total | Orders | Options | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | Economy | Total | |||||
| Boeing 737-300 | 2 | — | — | 24[19] | 118 | 142 | leased from GECAS, one stored[20] |
| Boeing 737-500 | 1 | — | — | 24[19] | 96 | 120 | leased from SAAM[21] |
| Bombardier CRJ900[13][14][22] | 3 | 4 | — | — | 88 | 88 | |
| Saab 340A | 2 | — | — | — | 33 | 33 | leased from Golden Air |
| Total | 7 | 4 | 0 | ||||
Estonian Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
Starting from 9 February 2010, Estonian Air is serving to all its Economy Class passengers complimentary refreshments: snacks, coffee, tea, water and juice on longer flights, and coffee, tea and water on flights which are shorter than one hour.[23] Hot meals may be ordered for purchase in advance.[24]
Estonian Air Business Class passengers and SAS EuroBonus Gold/Pandion card holders are welcome to Business Class Lounge in the transit area. Payphone, free newspapers and magazines are available. Other facilities include a bar, Internet-connected computers and printers.
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