The Estonian airline Estonian Air sees growth possibilities at Vilnius Airport: in the coming two or three years the airline plans to expand the geography of direct flights from the capital of Lithuania and locate two or three aircrafts in the airport of the city.

“Today the Lithuanian aviation market is one of the most rapidly growing aviation markets in the Baltic region. In Lithuania only 0.53 flights is now counted per capita annually, while the annual rate for Estonia and Latvia is 1.04 and 1.94 flights per capita respectively,” says Andrus Aljas, the President and CEO of Estonian Air.

Last year the market share of Estonian Air in Vilnius Airport was 1.11%, and within nine months of this year it increased up to 3.01%. “We hope that in 2011 7% of all Vilnius Airport passengers will be travelling by our aircrafts,” Mr. Aljas explains the future plans of the company.

The present flight schedule of Estonian Air totally includes four direct flights from Vilnius: the airline operates flights to Tallinn, Amsterdam (as of this February) and Stockholm (as of the end of October), while flights to Milan Malpensa Airport are to be launched on 18 December.

“There is a particular need for direct and connecting flights from Vilnius. For instance, people travelling by our aircrafts to Amsterdam continue their trips to Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis. These are the most popular destinations,” says the President and CEO of Estonian Air.

The flight of Estonian Air to Stockholm officially launched on 2 November is yet another niche which has remained free for quite a while. Although in 2008 slightly more than 44,800 passengers travelled between Vilnius and Stockholm, starting from this July no direct flight between the two capitals was left. Now in cooperation with SAS Estonian Air can offer its customers nearly 30 connecting flights from Stockholm.

The conventional airline allows 20kg of free registered baggage for its economy class passengers and 30kg for the business class and flexible economy class passengers. During the flight passengers with tourist class tickets are offered light snacks, coffee, tea and water free of charge.