In June, Tallinn Airport served a record-breaking 317,530 passengers which is 5.6% more than during the same period last year, being the all-time largest number of passengers served in one month.
317,530 passengers served means 10,584 passengers per day in average – the result also pushed the number of passengers in the first six months of the year over 1.5 million, which means a 10.5% increase in the growth rate in comparison to the same period last year. According to Eero Pärgmäe, Commercial Director of Tallinn Airport, the growth was driven by opening of new airlines and the beginning of summer holidays: “In June, airBaltic opened new lines from Tallinn to the Spanish Sunshine Coast Malaga, Brussels and Copenhagen. Belavia started flights to Belarus, Nordica reopened the seasonal line to Constanta by the Black Sea and Greek airline Ellinair started flights to Thessaloniki. We are used to the growth in the number of passengers in summer driven by seasonal direct flights to various resorts of Europe – we had planned the growth in the number of flights and planned the work at the airport accordingly.”
3.9% more seats were added to regular flights compared to last year, also the average percentage of filled seats increased to a record-breaking 79%. In total, there were regular flights in 36 lines with the addition of charter flights to the resorts in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria.
Eero Pärgmäe predicts that in July the growth in the number of passengers will slow down a little: “In the last week of June, easyJet temporarily ceased flights to Milan, also SAS is planning to reduce temporarily the number of flights to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vilnius and other business lines where the demand is lower during the period of summer holidays. Airlines use the time for scheduled maintenance work. In August, the regular flight schedule will be restored also in business lines, e.g. Tallinn – Copenhagen.”
The current passenger terminal has been built for 2.6 million passengers and already last year the number of passengers increased to 3 million. The vision of Tallinn Airport by year 2035 includes expansion of the passenger terminal for serving up to 6 million passengers, and construction of the airport campus. Eero Pärgmäe: “In months like June where the number of passengers is large we clearly feel the need for extensions of the terminal. We manage thanks to the industrious team who do their work with passion even in busy times and tight conditions. In June, 83.7% of flights departed on time, which is below the result of the past three months but exceeds the level of summer months last year.”
The increased air traffic of summer months brings additional work to every sector of the airport. “As there are simultaneously many flights in early mornings and in evenings between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., we recommend to the passengers to plan enough time for the arrival to the airport, finding a parking place and passing the security check in order to avoid excessive stress when catching the flight,” Pärgmäe suggested.
