Tallinn Airport have opened a new gate area. For passengers, this entails a more comfortable wait – low-cost airline passengers arriving from the Schengen area will notice the largest changes, however, the new gate area can also be used to service other airlines. During the construction, an area of approximately 1500 m² was reconfigured to include four new gate areas and toilets. A self-service R-Kiosk store with a diverse selection of goods will also be finished soon.
The new gate area is located on the ground floor of the passenger terminal and is the first larger-scale project for increasing passenger comfort since the 2018 south wing expansion. “The new gate area has been designed to service up to 400 passengers at once and the heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems are controlled by building automation,” Katrin Hagel, a member of the Tallinn Airport Management Board, explained.”Completing this construction stage will increase the capacity and efficiency of the airport. In addition, the new area will help reduce passenger crowding at the terminal.”
The current passenger terminal was built to accommodate 2.6 million travellers and in 2019, when 3.26 million passengers passed through the airport, the terminal proved to be too small for such crowds. This summer saw a large increase in passengers and this growth in numbers is projected to continue. As a result, the airport is already making preparations to be ready to service a larger amount of passengers. “The next expansion includes building a new non-Schengen gate area, expanding the border crossing zone; in the near future the baggage handling area expansion will be finished and a new automated baggage sorting system installed,” Hagel remarked, introducing the airport’s plans for the future.
The designer of the new Schengen area gates is AS Infragate Eesti, the constructor AS Megaron-E, Sweco EST OÜ exercised owner supervision. The construction of the gate area cost 1.8 million euros.
