Estonian Air

Estonian Air

File:Estonian Air.svg
IATA ICAO Callsign OV ELL ESTONIAN
Founded	1991
Hubs	Tallinn Airport
Frequent-flyer program	EuroBonus
Fleet size	8 (+3 orders) Estonian Air International 6 (+3 orders) Estonian Air Regional 2
Destinations	23
Headquarters	Tallinn, Estonia
Key people	Andrus Aljas (CEO) Rait Kalda (COO) Maigi Pernik-Pärnik(CFO) not announced (CCO)
Website	http://www.estonian-air.com/

AS Estonian Air is an airline based in Tallinn, Estonia. It is a regional airline feeding into the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) network via Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen from Tallinn, Estonia. It is the national airline of Estonia and operates scheduled and charter services throughout Europe and also offers a ground handling service.

History

The airline was established and started operations on December 1 1991, shortly after Estonia re-acquired independence. It was founded by the Estonian government with aircraft acquired from the defunct local Aeroflot Division and was partially privatised in 1996. In 1995, Estonian Air leased two Boeing 737-500s to replace its old Soviet planes, and in 1996, after obtaining two more Fokker 50s, it was able to retire the Soviet fleet entirely. In March 2007, Estonian Air announced that they will lease another Boeing 737-500 and serve a new destination, Vienna, also Estonian Air is going to lease two Saab 340 and in June Estonian Air established a new company Estonian Air Regional and under that name they will open new destinations from Tallinn to Kuressaare-Stockholm, Helsinki and Vilnius. Later on to Saint Petersburg Russia and to Minsk Belarus.

Estonian Air has strong links with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). It operates frequent flights to SAS hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. The airline boasts "Well connected with SAS" status and the airline's frequent flyer programme is SAS' EuroBonus scheme. Other products and services shared with SAS include co-ordinated timetabling and shared airport lounges.

Unlike its affiliated carrier, Scandinavian Airlines, Estonian Air is not a member of the Star Alliance or any other airline alliance.

Estonian Air is owned by the SAS Group (49%), Estonian Government (34%) and Cresco (17%). It has 380 employees (as of March 2007).

Facts

• 1991 Frankfurt was Estonian Air's first destination.
• 1992 Member of IATA
• 1993 President of Estonia Lennart Meri first flew to a visit with Estonian Air.
• 1995 First Boeing 737-500 was delivered, named Koit(Dawn) ES-ABC. Smoking was not allowed in all Estonian Air flights.
• 1996 Second Boeing 737-500 was delivered, it was named Hämarik(Dusk) ES-ABD
• 1997 Corporative program Blue Star
• 1998 Third Boeing 737-500 was delivered, named Põhjatäht(Northern Star) ES-ABE. Www.Estonian-air.ee was created.
• 2000 Jorn Eriksen was the CEO of Estonian Air
• 2002 Fourth Boeing 737-500 delivered, named Eha ES-ABF. Erki Urva was now the CEO of Estonian Air.
• 2003 Fifth Boeing 737-500, named Virmaline and the leasing contract of Fokker F50 ended, it was on the same day when Concorde's last flight was made.
• 2004 First time in 13 years of company's action, over a 500.000 passengers traveled through Estonian Air.
• 2005 Estonian Air sold more than half of the tickets on the Internet.
• 2006 2 Boeing 737-300 were delivered, they were named Sohni and Kalev (ES-ABJ and ES-ABK)
• 2007 New destinations- Vienna, Helsinki, Vilnius and Kuressaare - were served and another Boeing 737-500 delivered, named Linda ES-ABL.
• 2008 3 new destinations- Minsk, Munich and Rome. Company announced to order 3 Bombardier CRJ900 NG and further 3 options.

The new daughter company was established - Estonian Air Regional which offers more flexible route network to/from Estonia.

The new Estonian Air's strategy for year 2011 was introduced. So-called "Diamond Strategy" included the expansion of the companies fleet up to 14 aircraft in 2011, however, according to recent reports in the Estonian business magazine Äripäev the airline is likely to file for bankruptcy soon (http://www.ap3.ee/Default2.aspx?ArticleID=bff77004-a788-4db5-8f94-bcbc4b16fcb2&open=sec).

Destinations

Main article: Estonian Air destinations

See also SAS Group destinations

Fleet

Estonian Air fleet includes the following aircraft as of March 2008:

Estonian Air Fleet

Aircraft Type	Total	Seats	Routes	Notes
Boeing 737-500	4	118	Medium range	Named: Hämarik, Koit, Sinilind and Linda - (Dusk, Dawn, Bluebird and Linda), leased from ILFC
Boeing 737-300	2	142	Medium range	Named: Sohni and Kalev - (from "Kalevipoeg"), leased from ILFC and GECAS
Saab340A	2	33	Short range	Named: n/a, leased from Saab Aircraft Leasing
Bombardier CRJ900 NG	(3 orders)(+3 options)	88	Medium range	Named: n/a

Routes, operated by Saab 340 aircraft, will be operated with one service class with a service level depending on the destination.

Partners

SAS Group Airlines:

• Blue1
• Scandinavian Airlines System
• Spanair
• Widerøe

Other Airlines:

• Austrian Airlines
• Aeroflot
• Aerosvit Airlines
• Belavia

Business Class Lounge

The company operates passenger lounges at several airports.

External links

• Estonian Air
• SAS Group