The company stated that the cancellations are due to unexpected delays and extended engine maintenance processes by the supplier Pratt & Whitney.

"The engine manufacturer's inability to fulfill maintenance obligations on time has impacted the operational capacity of airBaltic's Airbus A220-300 fleet, forcing the airline to make adjustments to its summer season schedule," the airline said in its statement.

According to airBaltic, Pratt & Whitney has informed them that some of their A220-300 aircraft will remain grounded this year due to a shortage of engines. As a result, the airline will cancel 19 routes and reduce flight frequencies on 21 routes across its various bases. In total, 4,670 flights will be canceled, affecting an estimated 67,160 passengers.

The company did not specify which routes from Estonia will be affected.

Eero Pärgmäe, a member of Tallinn Airport's management board, told ERR that the schedule changes will affect two routes from Tallinn. The planned Hamburg route will not be launched in the summer of 2025 and the Dubrovnik route will be discontinued. Additionally, the number of weekly flights to Copenhagen will decrease from six to four.

However, in response to the decision regarding Copenhagen, the airport announced that SAS will increase its frequency on the same route to 14 flights per week.

The airport also confirmed that airBaltic is not altering its strategy for Tallinn. The airline will continue to base four aircraft in Tallinn and will operate flights on 28 routes.

Travel agent suggests prices will rise

Mauri Saarend, director of flight ticket and travel insurance sales at Estravel, told ERR that airBaltic's announcement on Thursday came as a surprise, and they too are anxiously awaiting details about which routes will be affected.

"It was known that they were facing issues with engine maintenance, but according to our information, they were supposed to lease replacement aircraft from other airlines, as they have done before. The fact that routes are now being canceled on such a massive scale is quite unusual," Saarend noted.

Saarend acknowledged that the airline's decision will inevitably have an impact on the market, and from a customer perspective, this impact is not positive. Considering that each aircraft seats 145 passengers and airBaltic's announcement affects 4,670 flights, this will impact more than half a million people.

"We know that when supply decreases, prices increase, meaning that people planning to travel in the summer should expect fewer options and potentially higher prices for remaining seats," he added.

For customers who have already purchased tickets, Saarend outlined two possibilities. If airBaltic cancels a flight originating from Tallinn but offers an alternative route to the same destination via Riga, the ticket can be rebooked through Riga at no extra cost.

However, if airBaltic does not serve the destination from any other base, the only option is a refund. "From the customer's perspective, the next steps will depend on whether they have comprehensive travel disruption insurance in place. If the insurance covers airline schedule changes, there's no major issue – insurance will cover the difference between the refunded airBaltic ticket and the cost of a new one," he explained.

Aviation expert Sven Kukemelk highlighted on Wednesday that Estonia lacks a concrete plan for a scenario in which airBaltic significantly reduces its Tallinn routes. Currently, every fourth passenger at Tallinn Airport flies via airBaltic.

AirBaltic advises customers whose bookings are affected by these changes to check their reservations on the company's website.

The airline operates more than 130 routes from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere and seasonally from Gran Canaria.

The article was updated to add comments from Mauri Saarend and information about which routes will be discontinued or reduced from Tallinn.

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