newstodate.aero
Jan 24, 2019 (newstodate): The latest attempt to establish and consolidate what comes close to a national carrier in Estonia seems to have failed.
Set up in the aftermath of the demise in late 2015 of Estonian Air, Nordic Aviation, later renamed Nordica, performed its first flight on November 8, 2015, with high ambitions for boosting the connectivity of Tallinn Airport.
In November 2016, LOT acquired 49 percent of the stake in Regional Jet, a Nordica subsidiary and capacity provider to Nordica with own AOC, and under the new strategic partnership Nordica also moved its commercial platform unto LOT Polish Airlines from November 18, 2016.
Starting out with six aircraft, Nordica expanded the fleet by another 10 aircraft in 2017 and grew to 18 aircraft in 2018, with initial plans for a further three aircraft in 2019.
But in late 2018 Nordica announced that it would discard three unprofitable routes from its Tallinn hub to St Petersburg, Oslo and Amsterdam from early January 2019, and the number of seasonal summer routes will also be reduced in 2019.
Nordica's role is thus to diminish at Tallinn Airport under the growing pressure from its competitor, Latvia's airBaltic that has announced a strengthening of its position in the Estonian market.
In 2019, airBaltic will thus be operating 104 direct flights weekly from Tallinn Airport, an increase by 73 percent, y-o-y, by adding three new direct destinations this year, as well as increasing the number of weekly departures to existing destinations from Tallinn Airport.
airBaltic currently operates direct flights from Tallinn to Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna and Vilnius, while adding new direct flights to Malaga, Brussels and Copenhagen from June 2019.
At its height, Nordica's share of the total air transport market at Tallinn Airport reached 20 percent - a level soon to be overtaken by airBaltic.
Nordica will instead turn its attention to the ACMI market.
Set up in the aftermath of the demise in late 2015 of Estonian Air, Nordic Aviation, later renamed Nordica, performed its first flight on November 8, 2015, with high ambitions for boosting the connectivity of Tallinn Airport.
In November 2016, LOT acquired 49 percent of the stake in Regional Jet, a Nordica subsidiary and capacity provider to Nordica with own AOC, and under the new strategic partnership Nordica also moved its commercial platform unto LOT Polish Airlines from November 18, 2016.
Starting out with six aircraft, Nordica expanded the fleet by another 10 aircraft in 2017 and grew to 18 aircraft in 2018, with initial plans for a further three aircraft in 2019.
But in late 2018 Nordica announced that it would discard three unprofitable routes from its Tallinn hub to St Petersburg, Oslo and Amsterdam from early January 2019, and the number of seasonal summer routes will also be reduced in 2019.
Nordica's role is thus to diminish at Tallinn Airport under the growing pressure from its competitor, Latvia's airBaltic that has announced a strengthening of its position in the Estonian market.
In 2019, airBaltic will thus be operating 104 direct flights weekly from Tallinn Airport, an increase by 73 percent, y-o-y, by adding three new direct destinations this year, as well as increasing the number of weekly departures to existing destinations from Tallinn Airport.
airBaltic currently operates direct flights from Tallinn to Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna and Vilnius, while adding new direct flights to Malaga, Brussels and Copenhagen from June 2019.
At its height, Nordica's share of the total air transport market at Tallinn Airport reached 20 percent - a level soon to be overtaken by airBaltic.
Nordica will instead turn its attention to the ACMI market.