This winter, a total of 17 airlines will be operating direct flights out of Tallinn on 40 different routes.
The number of tickets on sale for the season is record-breaking for the airport, having increased by 10 percent on the same period last year. The transition to the winter schedule traditionally takes places on the same day that daylight savings comes to an end, on the last Sunday in October, the airport said.
Eero Pargmae, member of the management board of Tallinn Airport, said that there will be an average of 80 flights and more than 6,000 passengers passing through the airport each day during the winter season.
“Among the forty direct routes, one can find a suitable destination for city, beach, or skiing holidays. Even more importantly, the increased number of flights to major hub airports ensures better connections for business trips,” he noted.
The choice of holiday destinations this winter includes Gran Canaria and Tenerife on the Canary Islands, to which Air Baltic will be flying, and Athens and Antalya, to which Aegean and SunExpress, respectively, will be continuing to fly during winter for the first time. Similarly, flights to the city of Malaga on the south coast of Spain were previously only available in certain months, but the “Pearl of Andalusia” has become such a favorite among Estonian travelers that they can now fly there year-round.
Connections with Paphos and Dublin have also returned to the schedule, while flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Zurich, Copenhagen and other big cities continue to be offered. Starting from December, Air Baltic will be operating weekly flights to Geneva and Salzburg, while services to Milan, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Venice Treviso and Kutaisi continue to serve as gateways to ski resorts.
There will be four charter-flight destinations from Tallinn this winter, for which tickets must be booked through travel agencies — Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Tenerife and Aqaba in Jordan.
There will be more flights on a number of popular business routes — for example, Finnair will be flying to Helsinki as many as nine times a day. The biggest changes during the winter season, however, will be on the Tallinn-Vilnius route, with flight times being more geared towards business travelers — there will be additional morning departures from Monday to Thursday, while evening flights will depart earlier than they currently are. The new schedule will enable one-day, direct-flight trips to be made to the Lithuanian capital from Tuesday to Thursday. Nine weekly flights to Oslo and 10 weekly flights to London will further add to the winter schedule.
Since passengers from Estonia fly to more than 1,000 destinations throughout the year, stopovers remain very important for the country in terms of both business and leisure travel.
“Almost 50 percent of our departing passengers catch connecting flights at major hubs, significantly increasing the number of everyday connections and destinations for both entrepreneurs and holidaymakers,” Pargmae explained. “Winter will see more flights to Helsinki and Istanbul and an additional evening flight to Amsterdam. And if you plan far enough in advance, tickets are still available at decent prices.”
Source: BNS
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