OREANDA-NEWS. September 18, 2013. From January to August Estonian Air carried altogether 378 040 passengers, out of which 51 976 in August. In the first eight months Estonian Air operated 7365 flights, out of which 878 in August.

“In our restructuring plan, we have set a target for passenger volumes that corresponds to the reduction of destinations and scaling down on our fleet," commented Jan Palmer, the CEO of Estonian Air. "In the beginning of 2013, we were a bit behind our own projections, but in June, July and August the number of passengers have been in line with the plan. Also in terms of revenue, we have been able to meet our targets. ”

„Compared to last year, the total number of round trips has decreased by more than a half but at the same time Estonian Air has succeeded to fill the remaining number of aircraft much better and thus increase considerably the efficiency of our operations,“ added Palmer

In addition to regular flights, Estonian Air has been operating a number of charter flights for sports clubs travelling to games in Europe. "We already have a long partnership with Estonian football team, but during the spring and summer seasons our planes and crews have serviced numerous football and hockey clubs in Scandinavian countries and elsewhere in Europe," said Palmer. "The most recent notable travels have been to Athens with Dutch football squad AZ Alkmaar for their UEFA European League qualification game and Estonia's own national basketball team's trip to Sofia three days before the memorable game and win for Estonia in Tallinn."

Chartering one plane has contributed to Estonian Air's target to utilize the fleet better. "Our route network is based on five aircraft, but the company's fleet consists of seven aircraft," explained Mr. Palmer. "We have agreement to operate flights for Lithuanian carrier Air Lituanica with one aircraft until the end of 2015 and we have a good cooperation with Scandinavian and British charter operators for chartering out the seventh aircraft."

In the first eight months the regularity of Estonian Air flights was 99.6%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The company has considerably improved the punctuality - 15-minute punctuality was 90.7 %, an increase of 7.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year. In August the regularity and punctuality were 99.9% and 94.5% respectively.

Estonian Air, Estonia’s national carrier, is the biggest operator at Tallinn Airport. The airline flies regular routes to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim. The mission of Estonian Air is to provide Estonia with reliable and regular double daily connections to destinations of strategic importance and of substantial demand.