Tallinn-Brussels direct flights open for first time since March
From Monday, October 5, state-owned Latvian airline airBaltic is to restart direct flights between Tallinn and Brussels again, the first such services in over six months.
Tallinn Airport communications specialist Jane Kallaste told ERR Monday that starting the same day, direct flights between The two countries would recommence.
The flights are the first on that route since March 16, a few days after the government in Estonia declared a coronavirus emergency situation, and follow a change to the basis on which direct flights are permitted, which saw the majority of European countries become eligible for direct flight links almost overnight, whereas nearly all of them had previously been closed for direct flights.
The flights will depart three times a week: Once per day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Under the old regime, direct flights were off between Tallinn or Estonia and countries with more than 25 reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, over the preceding 14 days, which meant not only that nearly all European countries were closed to flight links, but also that direct flights to countries with lower coronavirus rates than Estonia's were also forbidden, on that basis.
Since Monday, the ceiling is now no-higher than double the European average COVID-19 14-day rate per 100,000 - at the time of writing, slightly under 200 per 100,000. Estonia's rate on Friday stood at 51.02.
Direct flights to Riga, Vilnius, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm, London, Edinburgh, Warsaw and Vienna are also currently available at Tallinn Airport, in addition to domestic flights within Estonia.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino