Estonian Air's loss declines 80 pct in Q2

Photo: Toomas Huik / Postimees

In the second quarter of 2013 the revenue of the state-owned airline Estonian Air increased by 20 percent from the previous quarter to 19.5 million euros and the net loss decreased by 80 percent to 0.9 million euros, the company reported on Thursday.

«The results indicate that our restructuring plan is working,» CEO of Estonian Air Jan Palmer said. «The turnaround program of the company has now been completed and as a sign of this step the airline in June recorded its first monthly profit in almost three years.»

In the first six months of 2013 the revenue was 35.7 million euros, 19 percent less than in 2012. The net loss of the first half of the year, at 5.8 million euros, was 61 percent smaller than the year before and slightly ahead of plan.

During the first half of the year Estonian Air carried 275,000 passengers, 35 percent less than last year, while flying 41 percent less round trips than during the same period in 2012. The number of employees dropped 48 percent from 341 to 171.

«The turnaround program is finalized as the company has done from its side everything needed in terms of downsizing,» Palmer said. "As a smaller regional carrier we can now focus on improving day-to-day operations to reach sustainability. In such a volatile industry this can be a difficult challenge."

According to Palmer the airline is still working on some additional issues related to the restructuring plan. «At the moment the airline uses two different types of aircraft. After 2015 we will have one type of regional jet aircraft and we are currently assessing our fleet options,» he added.

In June Estonia submitted the restructuring plan for the airline for approval to the European Commission Directorate General of Competition. A decision is expected at some point by the end of the first half of 2014.  

«The mission of Estonian Air is to provide Estonia with double daily connections to destinations of strategic importance,» Palmer said. «Every small country on the periphery of Europe depends on such connections and we are committed to providing these services.»

Estonian Air continues to proceed with the sale of its non-core assets. In June the company sold its subsidiary airline Estonian Air Regional to Fort Aero BBAA, a private jet operator. At the time of the sale the Regional entity was dormant and had no aircraft, no employees, and no assets. In July the airline returned its last remaining Boeing 737 to its lessor.

Estonian Air is the biggest operator at Tallinn Airport. It flies to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim. In addition, from June to August the airline flies between Tallinn and Paris and from May to September to Nice.