OREANDA-NEWS. January 15, 2014. In 2013 Estonian Air carried altogether 551 169 passengers, out of which 545 459 on regular flights.

In December Estonian Air carried 41 083 passengers, out of which 40 891 on regular flights. The load factor of Estonian Air regular flights was 67% which is 3.8 percentage points lower than in 2012.

The results of 2013 are in line with the restructuring plan focusing on downsizing the airline and serving destinations with substantial demand to and from Tallinn.

“We started to implement an extensive turnaround program in January 2013, including adjusting the route network to cover sustainable and economically feasible core destinations, and ensuring smooth point-to-point connection for the business and public service markets, as well as reducing the company’s cost base to become proportional to our core business,” said Jan Palmer, the CEO of Estonian Air.

“Although the turnaround is completed, that doesn’t mean that Estonian Air’s entire recovery check-list is completed. Fine tuning our operations and delivering full year and sustainable profits by 2015 latest, is on top of our priority list,” added Palmer.

Estonian Air operated 10 788 flights last year, out of which 823 flights in December. In 2013 the regularity of Estonian Air flights was 99.3%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to last year. Estonian Air has considerably improved the quality of punctuality: the 15-minute punctuality was 91.4%, an increase of 7.6 percentage points compared to last year.

Estonian Air is aiming to provide Estonia with reliable and regular double daily connections to destinations of strategic importance and of substantial demand. Being a small country on the periphery of Europe, Estonia depends on such connections, and Estonian Air is committed to provide these services.