newstodate.aero
Jun 07, 2010 (newstodate): With the agreement over the future ownership structure of Estonian Air, the airline is seeing brighter prospects for its future.
Among the issues high on the agenda is finalization of the terms for delivery of three CRJ-900 aircraft to Estonian Air.
The carrier is to receive three ex-factory CRJ900 NextGen to replace most of its current fleet of six Boeing 737 aircraft.
The aircraft for Estonian Air are comprised by the order by the SAS Group after the negotiations with Bombardier over a settlement of the issue of the grounded SAS Q400 fleet in late 2007.
According to the original plan, Estonian Air was to take delivery of its new aircraft one by one in rotation: the first one by the end of May 2009, the second by the middle and third one by the end of June, 2009, but the delivery scheme has been revised repeatedly and would finally hinge on a solution to the ownership issue after it became clear that the SAS Group decided to divest itself of its stake in the carrier.
-As things turned out, the original delivery scheme was indeed bad timing as demand in the market for capacity fell due to the crisis, so we do not deplore the delay too much, Estonian Air CEO Andrus Aljas earlier told newstodate.
Now things are changing.
-We are already in negotiations with parties on this issue, and we really cannot comment on details at this stage. But we are very optimistic as the picture is now getting clearer, says Mr Aljas.
Among the issues high on the agenda is finalization of the terms for delivery of three CRJ-900 aircraft to Estonian Air.
The carrier is to receive three ex-factory CRJ900 NextGen to replace most of its current fleet of six Boeing 737 aircraft.
The aircraft for Estonian Air are comprised by the order by the SAS Group after the negotiations with Bombardier over a settlement of the issue of the grounded SAS Q400 fleet in late 2007.
According to the original plan, Estonian Air was to take delivery of its new aircraft one by one in rotation: the first one by the end of May 2009, the second by the middle and third one by the end of June, 2009, but the delivery scheme has been revised repeatedly and would finally hinge on a solution to the ownership issue after it became clear that the SAS Group decided to divest itself of its stake in the carrier.
-As things turned out, the original delivery scheme was indeed bad timing as demand in the market for capacity fell due to the crisis, so we do not deplore the delay too much, Estonian Air CEO Andrus Aljas earlier told newstodate.
Now things are changing.
-We are already in negotiations with parties on this issue, and we really cannot comment on details at this stage. But we are very optimistic as the picture is now getting clearer, says Mr Aljas.