The expansion of Tallinn Airport's passenger terminal is one of the largest ever investments in Estonia's aviation infrastructure, aimed at boosting capacity and making it possible to serve up to five million passengers a year.

The original figure announced late last year had been €75 million.

Tallinn Airport CEO Riivo Tuvike said passenger numbers are growing and several areas of the passenger terminal have reached the limits of their capacity. The terminal was designed for 2.8 million passengers a year, but the airport is already serving nearly a million more than that.

"The expansion will provide more space, shorten waiting times and improve service while preserving the comfortable and homely travel experience characteristic of the airport," Tuvike told ERR.

Under the plan, construction will last 31 months and will be carried out while the airport remains operational, with both the passenger terminal and air traffic continuing to function. The full program runs from 2025 to 2029, with preparatory work this autumn and major construction inside the terminal from early 2027.

Kaido Somelar, chairman of the management boards of Tallinna Ehitustrust OÜ/Ehitustrust OÜ, which has the contract, said the companies will not only erect a new section of the terminal but also connect it to the existing building, while several existing areas will also be reconstructed.

"Between 2025 and 2029, approximately 16,500 square meters of new space will be added to the passenger terminal, while around 18,000 square meters of existing areas will be renovated," Somelar said.

As part of the expansion, a new section of the terminal will be built on the site of the present-day parking lot between the passenger terminal and the public transport terminal. It will include a baggage claim area for arriving passengers, new baggage carousels, shops and restaurants, and two boarding gates. To serve the new gates, the aircraft parking and servicing area next to the terminal will also be expanded.

The terminal's border control and gate areas will also be expanded to improve handling of non-Schengen flights and reduce queues at peak hours. Existing retail and dining areas will be renovated.

"The passenger terminal will remain open and air traffic will continue throughout the construction period, but passengers should expect temporary changes and some inconvenience," Tuvike added.

The historical terminal building, replaced by the current terminal ahead of the 1980 Olympics, was set for demolition in the original plans but met with pushback from the heritage board.

The Estonian state has also set new targets for Tallinn Airport: at least 60 regular destinations and five million passengers a year by 2030, up from around 3.5 million last year.

The nearby Ülemiste hub is set for a €500 million transformation, and the airport is close to the under-development Rail Baltica terminal.

The current airport terminal was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics and later named after Lennart Meri, Estonia's first post-independence president; the site has hosted an airport since the interwar period.

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