Tallinn Airport
Encyclopedia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and home base of the national airline Estonian Air
Estonian Air
AS Estonian Air is Estonia's national carrier, owned by the Estonian state. The airline is based in Tallinn, Estonia. It is a regional airline feeding into the Scandinavian Airlines System network via Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen from Estonia....
. Tallinn Airport is open to both domestic and international flights. It is located approximately 4 kilometers from the centre of Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
on the eastern shore
Shore
A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore,...
of Lake Ülemiste
Lake Ülemiste
Lake Ülemiste is the largest of the lakes surrounding Tallinn, Estonia. Ülemiste is where most of the city gets its drinking water from. The lake is fed mostly by Kurna stream and Pirita River ....
.
The airport has a single asphalt-concrete runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
that is 3070 meters long and 45 meters wide (large enough to handle wide-bodied aircraft such as the Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
), five taxiway
Taxiway
A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports sometimes use gravel or grass....
s and fourteen terminal
Airport terminal
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft....
gates. Ground handling is provided by Tallinn Airport GH and airBaltic.
The airport has also seen military use as an interceptor aircraft base. It was home to 384 IAP (384th Interceptor Aircraft Regiment) which flew MiG-23P
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third generation jet fighter category, along with similarly aged Soviet fighters such as the MiG-25 "Foxbat"...
aircraft.
Since March 29, 2009 the airport is officially known as Lennart Meri Tallinn International Airport, in honour of the leader of the Estonian independence movement and second President of Estonia
President of Estonia
The President of the Republic is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia.Estonia is a parliamentary republic, therefore President is mainly a symbolic figure and holds no executive power. The President has to suspend his membership in any political party for his term in office...
Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...
.
History
The building of Tallinn Airport started in 1932, and the airport was opened officially on 20 September 1936, although it had been operational a good while before the official opening. Before World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Tallinn Airport had regular connections to abroad by at least Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...
, LOT
Lot
Lot or lots may refer to:*Lot , a unit of weight used in many European countries since Middle Ages until the beginning of the 20th century*Lot, a set of goods, together for sale in an auction; or a quantity of a financial instrument...
and the Finnish company Aero (now Finnair
Finnair
Finnair Plc is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters on the grounds of Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest...
). Between 1945 and 1989, Aeroflot
Aeroflot
OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...
was the only airline that served Tallinn Airport. Regular flights with jet aircraft began in 1962. A new terminal building was built in the late 1970s and the runway was also lengthened then. The first foreign airline since World War II to operate regular flights from Tallinn was SAS
Scandinavian Airlines System
Scandinavian Airlines or SAS, previously Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the largest airline in Scandinavia....
in the autumn of 1989. The terminal building was completely modernised in 1999 and greatly expanded in 2008.
2008 expansion
The airport underwent a large expansion project between January 2006 and September 2008. The terminal was expanded in three directions, resulting in 14 new gates, separate lounges for SchengenSchengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...
and non-Schengen passengers, 10 new check-in desks and a new restaurant and cafes. Outside the terminal, the apron was refurbished and expanded and a new taxiway was added. The new terminal allows the airport to handle twice as many passengers as it could handle before.
Renaming
President of Estonia
The President of the Republic is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia.Estonia is a parliamentary republic, therefore President is mainly a symbolic figure and holds no executive power. The President has to suspend his membership in any political party for his term in office...
Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...
on 14 March 2006, journalist Argo Ideon from Eesti Ekspress
Eesti Ekspress
Eesti Ekspress was the first politically independent newspaper in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic during the Soviet control of Estonia. Making use of Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost, it was established as a weekly newspaper in 1989 by Hans H. Luik and others...
proposed to honor the president's memory by naming Tallinn Airport after him – "" (Lennart Meri International Airport), drawing parallels with JFK Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Istanbul-Ataturk Airport etc. Ideon's article also mentioned the fact that Meri himself had shown concern for the condition of the then Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
-era construction (in one memorable case Meri, having arrived from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, led the group of journalists that were expecting him, to the airport's toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
s to do the interview there, in order to point out the shoddy condition of the facilities).
The name change was discussed at a board meeting on 29 March 2006, and on the opening of the new terminal on 19 September 2008, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip
Andrus Ansip
Andrus Ansip is the current Prime Minister of Estonia, and chairman of the market liberal Estonian Reform Party .-Early life and career:...
officially announced the renaming would take place in March, 2009
Terminal building
Airport terminal
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft....
, including three restaurants, three coffee shops, a duty free shop, cigar lounge, book store, travel shop, gift shop etc.
Passenger facilities
Passenger facilities provided include: post officePost office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, telephone services, free wired/wireless Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
access and a business lounge. Travel agency, currency exchange, cash machines (ATM
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
) and porter services are also available. There are two bus stops at the terminal, one stop in front of the departure area (the bus comes from the city centre) and another one in front of the arrivals area (the bus goes to the city centre).
Bus Lines
There is a new public bus line "90K" between the city center and Tallinn airport. Tickets cost 2€ and the line operates from 8:00 to 18:00 every 30 minutes. There is also a bus line "2" operated by MRP which has a schedule on their site. The bus line "2" also travels through the harbour, so if you are coming to Tallinn via air and are going on a cruise, take the bus "2".Car rental
Major car rental companies have their offices here: AvisAvis
-Businesses:*Avis Budget Group, founded in 2006 as the successor company to Cendant Corporation**Avis Rent a Car System, a car rental company**Avis Worldwide Foreign Education Services, a worldwide foreign education company formed and owned by Sandeep S Pillai....
, Sixt
Sixt
Sixt is a European car rental company. It has around 3,500 service stations in over 80 countries. Sixt was founded in 1912 by Martin Sixt in Munich.-Company facts:*Revenue : €1.44 billion*EBIT: €153.3 million*EBT: €121.647 million*Employees: 2,015...
, Europcar
Europcar
Europcar is a Paris based car rental company owned by the French investment company Eurazeo, after its sale by the Volkswagen group. The company was founded in Paris in 1949...
, Budget Rent A Car
Budget Rent a Car
Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget's operations are headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, New Jersey....
, Hertz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
and National
National Car Rental
National Car Rental is a rental car company based in Clayton, Missouri. National was founded by 24 independent rental car agents on August 27, 1947...
.
Scheduled airlines and destinations
Charter
Cargo airlines
Statistics
Total passengers using the airport has increased on average by 14.2% annually since 1998. Passenger data reflects international and domestic flights combined, share of domestic flights compared to international flights was marginal. Passenger and cargo numbers exclude direct transit.| Year | Total Passengers | Aircraft movements | Total Cargo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 563,946 | 24,951 | 5,991 |
| 1999 | 550,747 | 23,590 | 5,326 |
| 2000 | 559,658 | 23,358 | 4,690 |
| 2001 | 573,493 | 23,633 | 4,543 |
| 2002 | 605,697 | 26,226 | 4,292 |
| 2003 | 715,859 | 25,294 | 5,080 |
| 2004 | 997,461 | 28,149 | 5,237 |
| 2005 | 1,401,059 | 33,610 | 9,937 |
| 2006 | 1,541,832 | 33,989 | 10,361 |
| 2007 | 1,728,430 | 38,844 | 22,764 |
| 2008 | 1,811,536 | 41,654 | 41,867 |
| 2009 | 1,346,236 | 32,572 | 21,001 |
| 2010 | 1,384,831 | 33,587 | 11,960 |
Statistics
| Rank | City | Airport | Passengers (2010) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  RigaRiga Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,... |
Riga International Airport Riga International Airport -Cargo airlines:*DHL Express*Inversija*RAF-Avia*Sprintair*TNT NV*Transavibaltika*UPS-Traffic statistics:Riga International Airport is one of three notable airports in Latvia. The other two are Liepāja International Airport and Ventspils Airport. Riga International Airport's biggest air carrier is... |
4,663,692 |
| 2. |  TallinnTallinn Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list... |
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport | 1,384,831 |
| 3. |  VilniusVilnius Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County... |
Vilnius International Airport Vilnius International Airport Vilnius International Airport is the largest civil airport in Lithuania. It is located south of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It began operations in 1944. The old terminal was built in 1954.- History:... |
1,373,859 |
| 4. | Kaunas Kaunas Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation... |
Kaunas International Airport | 809,732 |
| 5. | Palanga Palanga Palanga and beautiful sand dunes. Officially Palanga has the status of a city municipality and includes Šventoji, Nemirseta, Būtingė and other settlements, which are considered as part of the city of Palanga.-Legend:... |
Palanga International Airport Palanga International Airport Palanga International Airport is an international airport located in the western part of Lithuania near the Baltic Sea. The airport focuses on servicing short and mid-range routes. The facility expansion completed in 2007 has made long-range route servicing a possibility. Since 1993, the number of... |
102,528 |
| 6 | | Tartu Tartu Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the... |
Tartu Airport Tartu Airport Tartu Airport is south southwest of the city centre of Tartu in Estonia, near the Tartu–Võru highway. It is also called Ülenurme Airport due to its proximity to the village of Ülenurme.... |
23,504 |
| 7. | Kuressaare Kuressaare Kuressaare is a town and a municipality on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the capital of Saare County. The current population is about 14,706 Kuressaare is a town and a municipality on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the capital of Saare County. The current population is about 14,706... |
Kuressaare Airport Kuressaare Airport Kuressaare Airport is an airport in Estonia. The airport is situated 3 km from the town of Kuressaare on Saaremaa island.The first runway was built in the last half of the 1930s. The airport was opened officially on 6 March 1945. The air traffic increased during the next years, and between... |
19,702 |
| 8. | Kärdla Kärdla Kärdla is the largest town on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa and the capital of Hiiu County.-Geography:Kärdla is located on the north-eastern coast of Hiiumaa, by the Gulf of Tareste . Southeast of the town is the Kärdla meteorite crater, which is 455 million years old.Several small rivers flow... |
Kärdla Airport Kärdla Airport Kärdla Airport is an airport in Estonia. The airport is situated 7 km east of the town of Kärdla on Hiiumaa island.The airport has an asphalt runway of 1520 meters length and 30 meters width. The directions are 14 and 32. The runway was upgraded in 1998.Kärdla Airport opened in 1963... |
10,551 |
| 9. | Pärnu Pärnu Pärnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga... |
Pärnu Airport Pärnu Airport Pärnu Airport is an airport in Estonia. The airport is situated 4 km from the city of Pärnu.In October 1937 Pärnu town council designated an area of 0.28 km² for the building of an airport. Operations at the new airport began in 1939.... |
5,148 |
Tallinn Airport handled 1,811,536 passengers in 2008 which is 4.8% more than in 2007.
Also 41,654 aircraft movements (7% growth) and 41,867 tonnes of mail and freight (84% growth compared to 2007) were handled in 2008.
83% of passengers were flying on scheduled flights, 17% on non-scheduled flights. The most popular holiday destinations proved to be resorts in Egypt, Turkey, Spain and Greece, whilst furthest long-haul charter destinations included India and Thailand.
The most popular scheduled destinations were Helsinki, London, Copenhagen and Oslo. Two new destinations—Minsk and Munich were introduced in 2008, as well as a seasonal route to Rome (by Estonian Air).
The busiest days were 27 June, when 7103 passengers passed through the airport's premises and 6 June when 172 aircraft movements (86 flights) were handled. The biggest aircraft served at Tallinn Airport, Boeing 747-400, weighed 413 tonnes, while the smallest ultralight had the maximum take-off weight of just 270 kg (600 lb). The furthest destination was San Jose in US California, 8822 km (5,481.8 mi) from Tallinn. 216 different airlines, flying to/from 372 destinations in the world used the services of Tallinn Airport.
Incidents and accidents
- On 18 March 2010 an ExinExinExin is a cargo airline based in Lublin, Poland. Its main base is Katowice International Airport.-Destinations:Exin operates the following services on behalf of DHL Aviation :**Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport...
AntonovAntonovAntonov, or Antonov Aeronautical Scientist/Technical Complex , formerly the Antonov Design Bureau, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company with particular expertise in the field of very large aircraft construction. Antonov ASTC is a state-owned commercial company...
An-26 aircraft made an emergency landing on the frozen Lake ÜlemisteLake ÜlemisteLake Ülemiste is the largest of the lakes surrounding Tallinn, Estonia. Ülemiste is where most of the city gets its drinking water from. The lake is fed mostly by Kurna stream and Pirita River ....
, close to Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport. Initial reports indicated problems with the landing gear and one of the engines. The flight was operated by ExinExinExin is a cargo airline based in Lublin, Poland. Its main base is Katowice International Airport.-Destinations:Exin operates the following services on behalf of DHL Aviation :**Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport...
on behalf of DHL. The aircraft involved was SP-FDO and the flight had departed from Helsinki AirportHelsinki AirportHelsinki Airport or Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is the main international airport of the Helsinki metropolitan region and the whole of Finland. It is located in Vantaa, Finland, about west of Tikkurila, the centre of Vantaa, and north of Helsinki city centre...
. Two of the six crew members were injured. - On 25 August 2010 an ExinExinExin is a cargo airline based in Lublin, Poland. Its main base is Katowice International Airport.-Destinations:Exin operates the following services on behalf of DHL Aviation :**Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport...
AntonovAntonovAntonov, or Antonov Aeronautical Scientist/Technical Complex , formerly the Antonov Design Bureau, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company with particular expertise in the field of very large aircraft construction. Antonov ASTC is a state-owned commercial company...
An-26 aircraft made an emergency landing on the runway of Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport. Initial reports indicated problems with the landing gear during takeoff. The flight was being operated by ExinExinExin is a cargo airline based in Lublin, Poland. Its main base is Katowice International Airport.-Destinations:Exin operates the following services on behalf of DHL Aviation :**Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport...
on behalf of DHL. The aircraft involved was SP-FDP and the flight was scheduled to fly to Helsinki AirportHelsinki AirportHelsinki Airport or Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is the main international airport of the Helsinki metropolitan region and the whole of Finland. It is located in Vantaa, Finland, about west of Tikkurila, the centre of Vantaa, and north of Helsinki city centre...
. None of the four crew members were injured.
External links
- Official website
- AIP Estonia EETN AD 2 Tallinn – information from AIPAeronautical Information PublicationIn aviation, an Aeronautical Information Publication is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization as a publication issued by or with the authority of a state and containing aeronautical information of a lasting character essential to air navigation...
Estonia (.pdf) - Estonia air transport infrastructure (.pdf)