Aljas: state support has made airBaltic into a formidable competitor

Estonian Air CEO Andrus Aljas admits in an interview that support from the Latvian state has made airBaltic into a dangerous competitor and the Estonian aviation enterprise does not have much to counteract this situation. “We have different business models. Years ago now, airBal¬tic took a direction towards becoming in a longer-term perspective one of the biggest airlines in the Nordic countries. To this end, the Latvian state has invested a lot of money in the enterprise through Riga Airport, directly as well as indirectly. We are not quite as fortunate. Our business model is to focus on the local market and serve the demand – outbound trips from and inbound trips to Estonia.” He added that without Estonian Air, the number of flights from Tallinn would be half what there are today.