Tartu Airport recorded its highest ever number of passengers in 2016, growing by 40% to 29,594. Finnair served 29,311 passengers on the Tartu-Helsinki-Tartu route, which was 8603 more than in 2015. 2218 passengers travelled between Tartu and the Finnish capital in December, which was 382 more than in December 2015.
Eero Pärgmäe, the director of marketing for Tallinn Airport, which manages Tartu Airport, says that the numbers are great news not only for the airport, but also for Tartu itself as well as for Finnair. “The fact that 2016 was such a successful year reassures us that international flights from Tartu will continue, and hopefully we’ll increase passenger numbers even more,” he remarked. “The growth we’ve seen is primarily down to the convenience of the flight schedule and Finnair’s reliability and accuracy – virtually every flight that was meant to happen during the year did so.”
Higher passenger numbers have led to the expansion of the passenger terminal at Tartu Airport, with a second departure lounge being constructed at a cost of 135,000 euros.
Finnair has been serving passengers on the Helsinki-Tartu-Helsinki route since May 2015. As one of the biggest airlines in Northern Europe, Finnair links Southern Estonia to more than 70 destinations via its Helsinki hub, making major cities on four continents only a stopover away from Tartu. Finnair flies from Helsinki to Tartu and back again seven days a week.
