newstodate.aero

May 26, 2020 (newstodate): Little news is evaporating from the Estonian company Nordica, waiting for green lights for the state to throw in a life-line in the form of a much-needed cash injection.
   The Estonian government is willing to inject EUR 30 mio into the company on certain conditions: one is to set up a Holding Company with Nordica, Xfly and the leasing arm Transpordi Varahaldus as sister companies; another is that Nordica must present a convincing business plan to the government.
   -The business plan will be presented to the Government within the coming days, but as there are many critical issues on the table, we do not know when we get the final decision, Toomas Uibo, Head of Marketing and Communication, told newstodate on May 15.
   The new business plan must comprise an oversight over routes to be served by Nordica out of Tallinn to grant connectivity to Estonia in a challenging competitive environment, according to Mr Uibo.
   It seems that Nordica will soon need to come up with a most convincing vision of how to secure a role as a future competitive provider of air connectivity at Tallinn Airport.
    Its Latvian competitor airBaltic opened its base at Tallinn Airport in November 2014, and with three Airbus A220-300 aircraft allocated to flights from Estonia, the Latvian carrier effectively squeezed out Nordica that finally retreated from the market for scheduled services from July 2019.
   Last serving up to 11 direct scheduled routes from Tallinn Airport and thus leaving little room for its Estonian competitor, airBaltic has already reopened services at Tallinn Airport including flights from May 18, 2020, on routes to Copenhagen, Oslo, Amsterdam - and from May 25 to Vilnius in Lithuania.
   Also flights on routes from Tallinn to Paris, Vienna and Berlin will be reopened from June 1,2, and 4, respectively.
   So the big issue remains: what can Nordica bring to the Estonian market that is not already provided by other airlines, notably airBaltic?