What will the changes in the aviation market do to passengers? What will the crisis befall AirBaltis, whose services are used by every fourth passenger at
Tallinn Airport? What are the plans of low-cost airlines?
What will the changes in the airline market mean for passengers? What will the crisis in airBaltis, which services every fourth
passenger at Tallinn airport? What are the plans of low-cost airlines?
The questions Rus.Postimees answered on direct air member of the Management of Tallinn Airport Eero Pärgmäe.
Excerpts from the conversation:
– How will the crisis in airBaltis affect the aviation traffic with Estonia?
– The Crisis is not only in AirBaltis. All European aviation is in a little crisis. Most airlines are short of either engines, or planes. The problems are facing both makers Airbus, and Boeing.
As of now the summer plans are changed by AirBaltis, and Lufthansa, and many others.
– Does this mean that we should wait for news about the cancellation of flights and from Lufthansa?
– Ticket holders for Lufthansa flights should check their emails.There may be changes in the schedule of flights. The adjustments may be and minimal, for e.g. by one hour.
The changes may affect both the time of departure, and the frequency of flights. The same reason is the lack of engines and airplanes.
But Lufthansa’s network of flights is so large, that there is no risk of not flying at all or being delayed on the next flight is practically none.
– Why could the rearrangement of the flight map by the Latvian carrier?
– From the schedule of airBaltis it is evident that the airline is still flying from TallinnEach day. Four of these airplanes are currently based here. The same number of airplanes will remain for the summer period.
Obviously, the Tallinn aviation market is very important to the Latvian company. For this reason that the suspected in AirBaltis changes affected Estonia less than ever (the direct flight to Dubrovnik and Hamburg – prim. For comparison: From Riga were canceled 10 routes, from Vilnius – six.
January 15 January – is the last deadline by which airlines request slots (intervals for the takeoff and landing of airplanes – p.. by this time the picture of the picture of all flights will be clear. Of course, changes and in the future are possible, but not so significant.
– Could in the foreseeable future all be reduced to flying through Riga? It is in the interest of the Latvians…
– It should be noted that the Riga hub is not the best times. Passengers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are no longer available. Passenger traffic is significantly decreased, and the losses are compensated by flying from Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere and the Canary islands.
I believe that all the direct routes from Tallinn are important for the airline.
– Will travel to Europe and Asia be mainly planned through big hubs?
– There are 15 carriers operating in the tiny Estonian aviation market. This is quite large with considering the peculiarities of the market. More than half of our passengers are already now flying through docking airports.
In a small market to open 100direct lines to different points around the world is practically impossible. There are simply not enough passengers to fill the planes.
– Do the negotiations continue with FlyDubai, which at the last moment decided to open direct flights from Tallin to Dubai? You had hoped that in a year the situation would change for better…
– The last meeting was three months ago. The company’s interest in opening direct service remains, but everything depends on whether they receive the number of airplanes from the Boeing factory. Nothing is clearly known until now. A decision with regard to Tallinn will be decided no later than spring.
– What are the plans for locosters?
– Locosters have the same problems as other airlines. WizzAir faced with a lack of engines, now they have 40 planes out of service. From Tallinn now this company flies only to London (the earlier flights to Kutaisi and Milan – prim.ed.).
But Ryanair is now flying to both Milan Milan – Malpensa and Bergamo. This locoster takes the niche of WizzAir. Totally Ryanair will serve 12 lines from Tallinn.
– Will Transavia France with direct flights to Paris and Eurowing – to Prague return for summer to Tallinn Transavia France with direct flights to Paris and Eurowing to Prague?
– We really hope that the new entrants to our market in the past year have been successful. They will analyze the profitability of these lines and then make their future decisions.
There will be no more direct flights to Athens . Aegean is also deficient of airplanes. And the route to Tallinn was decided to be too long.
– Why the problemIs the shortage of engines and airplanes as acute as the daily agenda not the first year?
– The new Airbus engines are economical and lightweight, but require more frequent maintenance. Modern engines need to be serviced five fold more than older ones. The deficit is because there are simply no spare engines and no capacity to maintain them. The economics is one of the reasons for the shortening life of new engines.
FlyDubai has an other problem: the issue is the quality of the production of new Boeing aircraft.
I think that it will take two or three more years to resolve the problem of the deficit of engines and airplanes.
– Will prices change for tickets in this year?
– There are many reasons for the increase in prices . It’s about inflation and the rise in different
charges in Europe – environmental, fuel, navigation (from April in Tallinn will also increase by 19% airport
charges – prim.ed.).
On the background of a deficit of airplanes demand will not decrease, and rise. Much will depend on the economic situation in Europe and the willingness of Europeans to travel.
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