The idea to privatize Pärnu Airport comes at a time when plans to bring international flights to Pärnu, which have been backed by tourism companies, have stalled. There were no flights this summer and the operators will not fund any flights in the new year.

If flights do not resume, the City of Pärnu, which contributes hundreds of thousands of euros every year to maintain the airport, does not consider it reasonable to continue financing it.

"Businesses have now told us that they will not support international flights next year either, because the economic situation is so bad for them," said Mayor of Pärnu Romek Kosenkranius.

"We also know that Tallinn Airport has told us several times that they do not want to develop Pärnu Airport. That is why we have held a discussion among the members of the Pärnu County Local Government Association and reached the point of proposing that the government consider whether it makes sense for the state to keep the airport."

According to Kosenkranius, there are examples in Scandinavian countries of public airports that have been privatized.

"It still has to be a company that wants to continue with air traffic. It doesn't make sense for us to just give the airport away. Since there has been so much investment there, it makes sense to find an operator for the airport who would be interested in operating air routes," Kosenkranius said.

Minister of Infrastructure Vladimir Svet does not think the privatization plan makes sense.

"The City of Pärnu, the municipalities of Pärnu and Pärnu's businesses have asked the state to invest money in the airport and not in rail connections, so that Pärnu and its businesses can develop air traffic and local tourism. The state's share of the commitment was an investment of up to €20 million. I don't think it's responsible to propose that the state simply write off the €20 million invested, so to speak," Svet said.

Svet added that he met with representatives of the City of Pärnu and Tallinn Airport a few weeks ago, but there was no talk of privatization at that time.

"Instead, there was talk about how we could help to attract more commercial tenants to Pärnu Airport. Eventually we agreed that we would start to look at whether there was any kind of viable business plan that could be established there," he said.

According to Svet, it is clear that no international flights will come to Pärnu Airport without additional funding, but rather than privatization, alternative options should be sought to ensure the investment made in the airport pays off.

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