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How beneficial is it for a small nation, trying
to elevate its profile, to have its own national
air carrier? “I think it is quite important,”
says Erki Urva, the first native Estonian to hold
the title of President of Estonian Air since the
company was created shortly after independence in
1991. Sporting a tail fin logo design based on the
national bird (swallow), and the company name prominently
displayed across mid section of their aircraft,
thousands of travelers per day, as they taxi about
the airport in places like Stockholm, Copenhagen,
Frankfurt, London, and Moscow, see the name Estonia.
“Our name comes directly from that of the country
so we are immediately recognized as a flag carrier,”
says Urva. “However, from the year 1996 on,
after the period of privatization, we can no longer
refer to Estonian Air is a ‘national’
carrier, in the way that it is typically understood
in other countries whereby the government is directly
supporting the carrier.” Bereft of this financial
backing, Estonian Air operated in the red for a
number of years. For the past two years though,
the company has shown a profit—one of only
a handful of airline companies in the world to do
so.
Coming to Estonian Air after serving in a travel
agency and on the management board of a local bank,
Urva didn’t exactly take the most direct route,
if you will, to the airline business. He still remembers
the first time he ever flew in an airplane, at around
the age of 10. “I flew from Tallinn to the
Island of Saaremaa in an old Soviet turbo prop,”
Urva recalls, pointing out the fact that, since
that maiden voyage, he has collected the flight
logs of each and every flight that he has ever taken.
Estonian Air’s bread and butter routes are
its three daily flights to Stockholm and Copenhagen.
Last year the company’s biggest increase was
on its London route, which exhibited a 30 percent
rise in passengers. “We have become very competitive
in the British market,” says the president.
“It was the result of an aggressive marketing
effort, not to mention the Eurovision song contest
that was held last year in Tallinn and was viewed,
on television, by millions of people across the
continent.”
That Estonian Air has shown a profit is doubly amazing
given the events of September 2001 and the Ukrainian
ground to air missile incident over the Black Sea
whereby a Russian passenger airliner was inadvertently
shot down. This is not to say that the company remained
untouched by the worldwide drop off in airline passengers;
however, “We recovered fully from these incidents
by April of last year,” said Urva, stating
that the company showed a 9 percent increase in
passengers. “Fortunately Estonia is located
in a very quiet part of the world,” he added.
With four major aircraft (three Boeings and a Fokker)
Estonian Air is content to serve as a regional partner
to companies such as SAS, Aeroflot, and Latvian
Airbaltic. “Clearly we see our primary mission
is to serve the Estonian market,” says Urva.
“Our customers and clients like to fly with
us.”
Aside from charters, Estonian Air does not fly domestically.
There is an air travel option available for tourists
hoping to fly between Tallinn and two large islands
off the Estonian coast, however these are conducted
by a small, government supported, domestic carrier
using propeller-driven 26-seat aircraft.
The majority of Estonian Air’s revenue was
generated in Europe, with the Scandinavian countries-
Sweden, Denmark, and Norway representing 25 percent
of the airline’s overall profit. For the most
part, those arriving in Tallinn via Scandinavia
are business travelers, while those coming from
Germany and the UK are primarily tourists.
Estonian passengers account for 37 percent of the
company’s total revenue.
“Our local people are especially willing
to fly with us,” says President Urva. “They
know that our cabin crew can talk with them in Estonian
(one of the least spoken languages on earth) and
we provide Estonian newspapers. These may seem like
tiny things, but when an Estonian has been abroad
for a while and enters one of our aircraft he or
she suddenly feels very much at home. In business
life, however, no one is going to fly with you because
you offer him or her an Estonian newspaper. In the
end analysis…everything is based on offering
better fares and superior service.”
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