newstodate.aero

Dec 18, 2020 (newstodate): Cargo volumes through Estonia's Tallinn Airport have provided little ground for optimism in 2020, continuously declining over the last few years.
   However, Riivo Tuvike, Tallinn Airport CEO since May 2019, remains confident that the negative trend can be turned around.
   -There are indeed prospects for air cargo at Tallinn Airport even if volumes have been very small these last few years. In my view, we have not really exploited our potentials, says Mr Tuvike.
   -Like Helsinki, Tallinn Airport is ideally positioned as one of the closest European airports to Asia, with some 74 million people within a 12 hours' road feeder catchment area.
   -Tallinn Airport thus commands the potentials to serve as a cargo and logistics hub for Sweden and Finland, Belarus and Ukraine, plus of course the Baltic countries.
    -To exploit these potentials, Tallinn Airport would need to expand and upgrade its infrastructure; we have been working on the project to expand the apron to serve cargo and MRO operations while the runway has been extended to 3,480m, making it the longest in the Baltic region.
   -As the coronavirus struck, we were forced to reconsider whether to continue or stop the project. The decision was to continue in order to be prepared and in place when the world opens again and traffic and business resumes.
   -Aviation is a volatile business, so relying solely on passenger traffic is dangerous. To diversify our income streams, a new apron infrastructure is needed to boost cargo, logistics and MRO activities, and this project will be finalized by Autumn 2021, says Mr Tuvike.