Estonian state-owned airline Nordica operated its last flight to Tallinn under its own name this past weekend, and for the next while, at least, it will not be flying out of Tallinn, reported ETV news broadcast Aktuaalne kaamera.

Nordic Aviation Group board chairman Erki Urva said that the airline's departure from Tallinn routes will likely mean an increase in ticket prices as well.

"When two airlines flew to the same destinations practically side by side, and engaged in fierce price competition, then of course if only one carrier remains, they may increase their prices," Urva said.

Travel agencies will be taking this possibility into account first and foremost on routes that will only be served by one carrier going forward.

"We'll be seeing soon enough what will start happening on the Vilnius route, for example," said Kaire Saadi, director of customer service and corporate sales at Estravel. "We predict that this will be the first place where prices will start to change. Things are looking much worse when it comes to the availability of flights too. I'm especially sorry about Nordica's summer destinations like Split and Rijeka, which were great for including in all kinds of packages to Croatia, Italy and Slovenia."

Nordica's CEO stressed, however, that the airline hopes to continue flying from Tallinn in the future.

"We haven't stopped flying from Tallinn; we've suspended them," Urva said. "Time will tell how the market situation develops. Our owner has indicated that it wants us to be prepared to continue flying, should the market situation change. Tallinn Airport is doing very well right now. This winter season, it will be serving 31 different destinations from Tallinn."

The airline's owner, the Estonian state, may want Nordica to continue flying, but it cannot order the airline to relaunch flights.

"A business must be self-supporting," explained Ahti Kuningas, deputy secretary general for transport at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. "The state cannot inject money into it. If the state can't put money into it, the state also cannot order it to fly anywhere. The only acceptable guidelines from the state would be things like, 'We want one daytime flight to London,' and then we can organize a procurement for the route in which airBaltic or Nordica can participate."

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