AARHUS, Denmark—Fresh from welcoming the arrival of Transavia France’s first service from Paris in early April, Tallinn Airport (TLL) is targeting further growth to underserved European markets.
“We have a rather comprehensive network already and good connectivity with major hubs,” Eero Pärgmäe, member of the manager board and CCO at Tallinn Airport, said at Routes Europe 2024. “But there are still major country markets that are underserved.”
He highlighted destinations in Germany, Portugal, Spain and the UK as key targets, as well as long-haul routes to North America. However, Pärgmäe said that a longstanding aspiration for a connection to the Middle East will soon be realized with an upcoming Dubai route.
“Now that we have flydubai’s 3X-weekly route from October, we will focus on growing our European network and will keep looking for longer-range routes, including North America,” he told Routes.
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During the summer 2024 season, Tallinn has three new airline partners. Alongside the planned entry of flydubai on Oct. 12, Transavia France commenced a route from Paris Orly Airport on April 4, and Eurowings inaugurated flights from Prague on March 31.
Elsewhere, airBaltic is adding nonstop service to Billund, Denmark; Burgas, Bulgaria; and Malta. Flights to the airline’s Tampere base in Finland are also continuing through the summer months. Other new routes include Ryanair’s services to Billund and Milan Malpensa.
“Additionally, nearly all our existing airline partners increase capacity in the summer, up by over 20% compared to last summer and above 2019 levels,” Pärgmäe said. “However, the big capacity growth also brings a challenge, particularly in the current economic climate. We need to make sure the growth is sustainable and that we continue to grow in the coming seasons, as well.”
Pärgmäe added that TLL is also working with Visit Estonia to attract more inbound tourism. Nearly 4 million foreign tourists visited Estonia in 2023, spending a combined €1.23 billion ($1.3 billion) while in the country.
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