Airline NyxAir is to start operating flights between Tallinn and Saaremaa from December 21.
NyxAir has signed an agreement with the relevant authority, the Road Administration (Maanteeamet), after winning the tender to operate the route, replacing Lithuanian carrier Transaviabaltika.
Tickets are to go on sale [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[20]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] later than two weeks before the first flight is scheduled.
The timetable remains relatively unchanged on predecessor Transaviabaltika's, though morning flights from Kuressaare to Tallinn will be earlier, following complaints the half-hour flight touched down too late in the day in the capital.
Prices will remain approximately the same too, it is reported.
The aircraft itself will be a 48-seater turboprop ATR 42-500, offering significantly larger passenger capacity than the Jetstream 32s flying the route up to the present.
Transaviabaltika lost the contract as the terms of the new tender due to its aircraft being too old. A stipulation in the agreement required planes made no later than the year 2000.
The tender process was also subject to lengthy holdups due to appeals by Regional Jet, subsidiary of the state-owned Nordica which also wanted to operate the line, appealing the decision to award the contract to NyxAir.
Transaviabaltika had continued operating flights on a provisional basis while the appeal was going on.
Allikas: ERR