Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport Marks 75th Anniversary
The capital's airport will reach a milestone on Tuesday, September 20, when the institution turns 75.
Ülemiste airport officially opened its doors on September 20, 1936, though by then it had been already receiving air traffic for a number of years.
The construction at the site, meant to replace the former airfield in Lasnamäe, started in 1932. The first stage of the project comprised three runways arranged in a triangular shape, a hangar and a navigation system.
By 1937, the Ülemiste airport serviced over 13,000 passengers annually and had flight connections with Helsinki, Riga, Warsaw, Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
The current passenger terminal dates from 1970. A new wing was constructed in 2008, adding 13,000 square meters of floor space.
Named after the late President Lennart Meri in March 2009, the airport serviced 1,384,831 passengers and handled 11,960 tons of cargo in 2010.
Erkki Sivonen