newstodate.aero
Jul 27, 2011 (newstodate): Estonian Air is working hard on finalizing its strategy for the coming years.
-This includes a wide range of issues, including evaluation of existing and future destinations to be served, as well as size and composition of the aircraft fleet needed to serve the network, says Tero Taskila, Estonian Air CEO.
-As for the future network, we have currently some 30 new potential destinations on the bill-board, and the task is now to filter these and end up with a shortlist from which new destinations will then be prioritized after a thorough market analysis.
-There has been muck speculation in the press concerning some potential new Estonian Air destinations in Finland, especially, and while it is indeed true that we consider Finland a very attractive market to penetrate no decision has yet been made as to which destinations will finally be opened, or when that would happen.
-But it is also obvious that by opening new destinations we will aim both at attracting point-to-point traffic and increasing the share of transfer traffic, so the entire process is rather complex and requires meticulous studies of markets and potentials.
-As for decisions on future fleet structure this remains an open issue also, but our focus will be on offering convenient frequencies to serve also the business segment. This will have a direct bearing on aircraft sizes, and we will probably end up with one type of aircraft in the segment up to 100 seats and another in the segment above 100 seats, preferably benefiting from cross-type capabilities as to crews and maintenance, says Mr Taskila.
Estonian Air is currently operating a fleet of eight aircraft, including two Boeing 737-300, two Boeing 737-500, two SAAB 340A and two CRJ900, with one more CRJ900 to be delivered early in 2012.
The airline also holds options for a further two CRJ900 aircraft.
-This includes a wide range of issues, including evaluation of existing and future destinations to be served, as well as size and composition of the aircraft fleet needed to serve the network, says Tero Taskila, Estonian Air CEO.
-As for the future network, we have currently some 30 new potential destinations on the bill-board, and the task is now to filter these and end up with a shortlist from which new destinations will then be prioritized after a thorough market analysis.
-There has been muck speculation in the press concerning some potential new Estonian Air destinations in Finland, especially, and while it is indeed true that we consider Finland a very attractive market to penetrate no decision has yet been made as to which destinations will finally be opened, or when that would happen.
-But it is also obvious that by opening new destinations we will aim both at attracting point-to-point traffic and increasing the share of transfer traffic, so the entire process is rather complex and requires meticulous studies of markets and potentials.
-As for decisions on future fleet structure this remains an open issue also, but our focus will be on offering convenient frequencies to serve also the business segment. This will have a direct bearing on aircraft sizes, and we will probably end up with one type of aircraft in the segment up to 100 seats and another in the segment above 100 seats, preferably benefiting from cross-type capabilities as to crews and maintenance, says Mr Taskila.
Estonian Air is currently operating a fleet of eight aircraft, including two Boeing 737-300, two Boeing 737-500, two SAAB 340A and two CRJ900, with one more CRJ900 to be delivered early in 2012.
The airline also holds options for a further two CRJ900 aircraft.