March with the biggest passenger numbers at Tallinn Airport

In March, Tallinn Airport served 232,951 passengers, which is 35% more than in last March and an all-time high for March. The number of passengers in March also exceeded the number of passengers in 2019 for the first time, which is a welcome sign of a recovery in demand. According to the latest forecast of ACI Europe, passenger numbers in Europe as a whole are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025.

There were regular flights to 33 destinations from Tallinn in March and the average capacity of the flights was 72%. Regular connections to many summer destinations were restored in late March: AirBaltic started flying to Nice on the French Riviera and Turkish airline Sunexpress started seasonal flights to Antalya on the Mediterranean. AirBaltic and Ryanair had the most passengers in the year – each of them 21%. Charter flights to Egypt, the Canary Islands and Milan continued.

According to Eero Pärgmäe, Chief Commercial Officer at Tallinn Airport, exceeding the pre-pandemic level is a very positive result for the airport and an encouraging one for the future. “The recovery of air traffic at Tallinn Airport has been very fast,” said Pärgmäe. “Together with our partners, we’ve been able to recruit staff faster than many other European airports, and as a result, flying from Tallinn is as comfortable as it was before the pandemic. Of course, we’re grateful to all the passengers who start their journeys from Tallinn Airport – without your thirst for travel, we wouldn’t have such numbers.”

“The recovery of passenger numbers at Tallinn Airport is a particularly important achievement for us, as other airports in the region are 10 to 28% behind their pre-pandemic passenger numbers according to the figures for February, as shown by ACI’s report on the comparison of air traffic of countries with 2019,” said Pärgmäe.

The number of passengers at regional airports was 4,991 in March. The largest number of passengers was served in Kuressaare, where the number of passengers increased by 27% compared to last year and a total of 3,460 passengers were served, the vast majority of whom used regular flights between Tallinn and Kuressaare. 1,026 passengers travelled through Kärdla Airport, making it the busiest March in years. This was supported by the introduction of a larger aircraft on the Kärdla-Tallinn route at the beginning of the year. 263 passengers were served at Ruhnu, 169 at Pärnu and 72 at Tartu airports. One passenger used the Kihnu airfield.

ACI Europe (Airports Council International) represents over 500 airports in 55 countries. ACI members facilitate more than 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe. An overview of the recovery of air traffic is available in the ACI Newsletter.