newstodate.aero

Jul 30, 2020 (newstodate): In Estonia, Tallinn Airport is cautiously optimistic about seeing a rebound in air traffic after the easing of the pandemic and travel restrictions.
   -Since last year, our main local carrier has been airBaltic, which operated 12 out of 28 direct routes from Tallinn before pandemic hit the aviation sector in March, says Eero Pargmae, Tallinn Airport CCO.  
   -Currently two A220 aircraft are operating from Tallinn, and we hope to welcome additional aircraft as the demand returns. So airBaltic is definitely our number 1 priority at the moment, but we also work with 14 other carriers, who already are or plan to return flights on routes to Tallinn.
   -We can see that all the airlines are really interested to re-enter the market as soon as possible. So far they have expressed their intentions to continue operation on all routes that have been operated before; Wizz Air even adding four new destinations: Lviv, Kharkiv, Vienna and Milan.
   -Recovery is much more depending on passenger demand, as travel restrictions still apply in certain destinations and people are cautious about traveling. As the pre-booking time is very short at a moment, we have seen that in July-August flights are coming back faster than passengers.
   -If we could serve half of the passengers we served last year, it can be considered a successful outcome. However, it is still too early to draw any conclusions, as the situation is still evolving, Mr Pargmae told newstodate earlier this month.
   Tallinn Airport now expects flights on routes between Tallinn, Moscow, Istanbul and Brussels to reopen by August, but on July 27, 2020, the Estonian government however decided to extend the restriction on opening direct air routes from Estonia to countries with a high-risk number of daily new cases of coronavirus until the end of August.