Bombardier Makes Airplane-Handover to Estonian Air
Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace will hand over a much-awaited plane to Estonian Air on January 24.
The airplane will cross the Atlantic to Estonia on the following morning, and will make its maiden commercial flight on January 27, from Tallinn to Stockholm.
"Updating our airport to modern, more environmentally friendly and less fuel consumption airplanes will help us increase traveler numbers and improve Estonian Air's competitiveness,“ said Estonian Air president Andrus Aljas.
Of the three new airplanes ordered by Estonian Air - to begin making flights to Stockholm, Moskva and Brussels - another will also be ready before the end of the month, and the third in 2012.
After two years of setbacks, Estonian Air signed a contract to buy the airplanes from the Canadian producer on September 9, 2010. As soon as the deal was made, the Estonian government arranged to buy back the portion of the company owned by the Scandinavian airline, SAS.
Estonian Air claims that the deal was delayed for two years because they were waiting for newer and more energy-efficient planes to emerge in the market.
Including Estonian Air, eight European airline companies have ordered 78 planes of this type (CRJ900 NextGen), according to Bombardier's commercial aircrafts president Gary R. Scott.
The 88-seat plane has a flight distance of 3,000 kilometers. Estonian Air has so far used airplane models Boeing 737-300 and 737-500, which seat 142 and 118 respectively.