Ahto Pahk, head of the public transport oversight service at the Road Administration, said: "An examination of the challenge did not reveal any mistakes in the proceeding that could have affected the outcome of the tender."

The decision to dismiss the challenge has been forwarded to Tuule Liinid.

Pahk would not disclose the details of the decision to the newspaper, saying that it contains the business secrets of a legal entity.

The contract was awarded via the procedure of direct award of a public service contract to operator to AS Kihnu Veeteed and signed at the beginning of July. Before making the decision, the Road Administration forwarded indicative timetables and information about the numbers of passengers on the lines in the previous three years to potential operators . 

Based on that data, tender offers were submitted by three operators: OÜ TS Laevad, AS Kihnu Veeteed and OÜ Tuule Liinid. AS Kihnu Veeteed was declared the winning tenderer.

According to the contract, the new carrier will start operating the Sõru-Triigi service between Hiiumaa and Saaremaa from Feb. 2, 2021, the Kihnu-Munalaid and Munalaid-Kihnu service to the small islands of Kihnu and Munalaid from Oct. 1 this year, and the Rohuküla-Sviby service to the island of Vormsi from June 1, 2021.

Winner of tender to operate subsidized air services between Tallinn and Saaremaa to be decided next week

Although the deadline for the tender to operate subsidized air services between Tallinn and Saaremaa ended almost two months ago, the winner has yet to be announced.

The Road Administration, responsible for the tender, has only said in response to inquiries that the final stage in the proceeding is underway but confirmed on Friday that the winner of the tender will officially be announced next week.

It is known that five carriers have submitted their offers in the tender: the current carrier Transaviabaltika, the Nordica subsidiary Regional Jet Ltd, Diamond Sky Ltd, NyxAir Ltd and AS Raf-Avia

The estimated value of the four-year contract is €16.2 million. The deadline for the tender has been postponed seven times due to court disputes.

According to initial plans, the new plane was supposed to start flying between Tallinn and Kuressaare from June 1, 2019. Due to litigation, the Road Administration extended the contract with the current carrier for up to two years until a new carrier is found.

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