Air Baltic suspends Tallinn to London flights for winter

Air Baltic will suspend its Tallinn to London Gatwick Airport route for the winter season and make other schedule changes from its bases in Riga and Vilnius, ERR reports. The airline plans to resume the Tallinn London route during next summer’s schedule.

Air Baltic told Tallinn Airport that the aviation winter season runs from late October to late March. The airline said it was reviewing its winter schedule across its entire network, including selected routes from Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.

The changes include suspending a limited number of routes and adjusting flight frequencies to better match expected winter travel patterns, Air Baltic said.

“These changes generally affect only a small part of the airline’s network and are part of normal schedule optimisation,” the company’s press department said. It added that airlines regularly review their routes and schedules based on passenger demand, seasonal travel patterns, business considerations and overall market conditions.

Eero Pärgmäe, a member of Tallinn Airport’s management board, said winter travel in the region is typically about 20 percent lower than during the summer season, resulting in fewer destinations in airline schedules.

Air Baltic will fly from Tallinn to 12 destinations this winter: Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, Malaga, Munich, Paris, Riga, Salzburg, Tenerife, Vienna, Vilnius and Funchal.

Pärgmäe said airlines had not yet finalised all their winter schedules, but noted several positive developments. Eurowings recently announced that it would continue operating its Tallinn to Düsseldorf route during the winter season. Flights will operate until November 13, from December 18 to January 4, and again from March 8 next year.

Wizz Air will continue operating most of the routes it opened during the summer. Jet2.com has announced that it will fly to Tallinn from five British cities during this year’s Christmas travel season, up from three previously: Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and London Gatwick.

Jet2.com has nearly twice as many tickets on sale for its Tallinn routes as during the previous winter season, and expects the flights to bring about 10,000 visitors from the United Kingdom to Estonia, Pärgmäe said.

Air Baltic said passengers affected by the changes would be offered alternative travel options. They may choose another available flight within 14 days before or after their original travel date, or request a refund through the airline’s website.

Air Baltic reported a loss of 44.34 million euros last year, although this was 2.7 times lower than the previous year’s loss. Its revenue rose 4.2 percent year on year to 779.34 million euros.

A meeting of Air Baltic bondholders scheduled for earlier this week was cancelled because a quorum was not reached. The airline had planned to seek short-term financing from bondholders. A new meeting is scheduled for August 17, three days before the airline must pay interest on its loan instalments.