The accompanying document gives the go ahead to the minister to transfer 400,000 Nordic Aviation Group shares at a notional value of €10 and which currently belong to the state, via a decision-making procedure which does not incorporate a share valuation report.

The government says this is not needed, on the grounds that the shares' ordinary value will be determined via competitive bids, while the documentation clarifies that there is no longer any need for the Estonian state to own a stake in Nordica.

The Republic of Estonia is Nordica's sole shareholder, while the Ministry of Climate manages that proportion directly owned by the state.

The government is due to discuss on Thursday the transfer of Nordica's shares; the related document states that: "In line with the Nordic Aviation Group's business strategy, outsourcing services are mostly offered. The company does not provide flights from Tallinn to passengers on its own behalf, nor does it have realistic assumptions of providing flight services from Tallinn any more; it does not increase connectivity with Estonia, while the Estonian state has no need to own the company. Based on these considerations, the climate minister proposes selling the company."

The Nordic Aviation Group was founded in October 2015 following the bankruptcy of national carrier Estonian Air.

At that time its main stated aims were to ensure flight connections from Tallinn, to offer competition within the aviation market, and to operate in a commercially sustainable manner.

However, the documentation noted, in the years which have followed, "the company's fortunes have changed significantly on several occasions."

The first of these was when the group stopped flying from Tallinn in 2019, due to the arrival of international airlines in Tallinn which made it no longer viable to compete profitably.

This was followed by state aid provided in October 2020 after the arrival of the Covid pandemic; conditions for this aid included not running unprofitable routes. This in turn meant that Nordica could no longer fly to and from Estonia.

The company is now in the process of being privatized. Michal said there are currently several non-binding offers. He added the privatization process could be reached in early March.

"When the privatization advisor goes through all these [offers], we will go to the Cabinet and discuss it. The best offer, whatever the government thinks is good, will go ahead. Hopefully it will come to a binding offer and then privatization, that would be the best possible course of action. But, as I have said from the beginning, both privatization and closure are possible," he said.

Michal said binding bids followed by the start of the privatization process could come as early as next month.

A special audit of Nordica commissioned by the Ministry of Climate and conducted by big four consultancy firm EY cited poor management as the main cause of the company's difficulties.

Last Wednesday, the Prosecutor's Office said it will not be initiating criminal proceedings into Nordica based on the special audit, saying the information as presented is too general.

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