Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport
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| Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport Lennart Meri Tallinna lennujaam |
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|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: TLL – ICAO: EETN | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Tallinn Airport Ltd | ||
| Serves | Tallinn, Estonia | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 131 ft / 40 m | ||
| Coordinates | 59°24′59″N 024°47′57″E / 59.41639°N 24.79917°E | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 08/26 | 10,070 | 3,070 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| Statistics (2008) | |||
| International Passengers | 1,790,063 | ||
| Domestic Passengers | 21,473 | ||
| Total passengers | 1,811,536 | ||
| Statistics from Tallinn Airport Ltd.[1] | |||
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport or Ülemiste Airport (IATA: TLL, ICAO: EETN; Estonian: Lennart Meri Tallinna lennujaam) is the largest airport in Estonia and home base of the national airline Estonian Air. Tallinn Airport is open to both domestic and international flights. It is located approximately 4 kilometers from the centre of Tallinn on the eastern shore of Lake Ülemiste.
The airport has a single asphalt-concrete runway that is 3070 meters long and 45 meters wide(large enough to handle wide-bodied aircraft such as the Boeing 747), five taxiways and fourteen terminal gates.
The airport has also seen military use as an interceptor aircraft base. It was home to 384 IAP (384th Interceptor Aircraft Regiment) which flew MiG-23P aircraft.
Since March 29, 2009 the airport is officially known as Lennart Meri Tallinn International Airport, in honour of the late Estonian diplomat and former president Lennart Meri.[2]
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[edit] History
The building of Tallinn Airport started in 1932, and the airport was opened officially on 20 September 1936, although it had been operational a good while before the official opening. Before World War II, Tallinn Airport had regular connections to abroad by at least Lufthansa, LOT and the Finnish company Aero (now Finnair). Between 1945 and 1989, Aeroflot was the only airline that served Tallinn Airport. Regular flights with jet planes started in 1962. A new terminal building was built in the late 1970 and the runway was also lengthened then. The first foreign airline that did regular flights from Tallinn after World War II was SAS in the autumn of 1989. The terminal building was completely modernised in 1999 and greatly expanded in 2008.
[edit] 2008 expansion
The airport underwent a large expansion project between January 2006 and September 2008. The terminal was expanded in three directions, resulting in 14 new gates, separate lounges for Schengen and non-Schengen passengers, 10 new check-in desks and a new restaurant and cafes. Outside the terminal, the apron was refurbished and expanded and a new taxiway was added. The new terminal allows the airport to handle twice as much passengers as it could handle before.
[edit] Renaming
After the death of former president of Estonia Lennart Meri on 14 March 2006, journalist Argo Ideon from Eesti Ekspress proposed to honor the president's memory by naming Tallinn Airport after him - "Tallinna Lennart Meri Rahvusvaheline Lennujaam" (Lennart Meri International Airport), drawing parallels with JFK Airport, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, etc.[3]. Ideon's article also mentioned the fact that Meri himself had shown concern for the condition of the then Soviet-era construction (in one memorable case Meri, having arrived from Japan, led the group of journalists that were expecting him, to the airport's toilets to do the interview there, in order to point out the shoddy condition of the facilities[4]).
The name change was discussed at a board meeting on 29 March 2006[5], and on the opening of the new terminal on 19 September 2008, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip officially announced the renaming would take place in March, 2009[6]
[edit] Terminal building
There are a small number of vendors in the terminal building, including three restaurants, three coffee shops, a duty free shop, cigar lounge, book store, travel shop, gift shop etc. The terminal area also contains a post office, telephone services, and free wired/wireless Internet access. Car rental, travel agency, currency exchange, and porter services are also available. There are two bus stops at the terminal, one stop in front of the departure area (the bus comes from the city centre) and another one in front of the arrivals area (the bus goes to the city centre).
[edit] Scheduled airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| airBaltic | Lappeenranta, Riga, Turku |
| Avies | Kärdla |
| City Airline | Gothenburg-Landvetter |
| Czech Airlines | Prague |
| EasyJet | London-Stansted |
| Estonian Air | Amsterdam, Athens [starts 5 July 2010], Barcelona [seasonal], Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Copenhagen, Kiev-Boryspil, London-Gatwick, Munich, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Nice [starts 1 May 2010], Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Charles de Gaulle [seasonal], Rome-Fiumicino [seasonal], Stockholm-Arlanda |
| Estonian Air Regional | Helsinki, Kuressaare, Minsk, Stockholm-Arlanda, St Petersburg, Vilnius |
| Finnair operated by Finncomm Airlines | Helsinki |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt, Munich[starts 26 March 2010] |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Oslo-Gardermoen |
[edit] Statistics
Total passengers using the airport has increased on average by 14.2% annually since 1998. Passenger data reflects international and domestic flights combined, share of domestic flights compared to international flights was marginal. Passenger and cargo numbers exclude direct transit.[1]
| Year | Total Passengers | Aircraft movements | Total Cargo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 563,946 | 24,951 | 5,991 |
| 1999 | 550,747 | 23,590 | 5,326 |
| 2000 | 559,658 | 23,358 | 4,690 |
| 2001 | 573,493 | 23,633 | 4,543 |
| 2002 | 605,697 | 26,226 | 4,292 |
| 2003 | 715,859 | 25,294 | 5,080 |
| 2004 | 997,461 | 28,149 | 5,237 |
| 2005 | 1,401,059 | 33,610 | 9,937 |
| 2006 | 1,541,832 | 33,989 | 10,361 |
| 2007 | 1,728,430 | 38,844 | 22,764 |
| 2008 | 1,811,536 | 41,654 | 41,867 |
Tallinn Airport handled 1,811,536 passengers in 2008 which is 4.8% more than in 2007.
Also 41,654 aircraft movements (7% growth) and 41,867 tonnes of mail and freight (84% growth compared to 2007) were handled in 2008.
83% of passengers were flying on scheduled flights, 17% on non-scheduled flights. The most popular holiday destinations proved to be resorts in Egypt, Turkey, Spain and Greece, whilst furthest long-haul charter destinations included India and Thailand.
The most popular scheduled destinations were Helsinki, London, Copenhagen and Oslo. Two new destinations – Minsk and Munich were introduced in 2008, as well as a seasonal route to Rome (by Estonian Air).
The busiest days were 27th of June, when 7103 passengers passed through the airports’ premises and 6th of June when 172 aircraft movements (86 flights) were handled. The biggest aircraft served at Tallinn Airport, Boeing 747-400, weighted 413 tonnes, while the smallest ultralight had the maximum take-off weight of just 270 kgs. The furthest destination was San Jose in US California, 8822 km (5483 miles) from Tallinn. 216 different airlines, flying to/from 372 destinations in the world used the services of Tallinn Airport.
[edit] Baltic's busiest airports by passenger traffic
| Rank | City | Airport | Passengers (2008) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Riga |
Riga International Airport | 3,691,000 |
| 2. |  Vilnius |
Vilnius International Airport | 2,048,000 |
| 3. |  Tallinn |
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport | 1,811,536 |
| 4. | Kaunas |
Kaunas International Airport | 410,000 |
| 5. | Palanga |
Palanga International Airport | 101,586 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Airport statistics". http://www.tallinn-airport.ee/eng/associates/GeneralInfo/statisticsandsurveys/?articleID=1355.
- ^ Eesti Ekspress 19 March 2009:Lennart Meri nimi lennujaama katusel maksnuks miljon krooni
- ^ Ideon, A. Lennu jaam. 15 March, 2006. Eesti Ekspress. (In Estonian)
- ^ City paper—The Baltic States
- ^ Lennujaama nõukogu arutab nimevahetust. 29 March 2006. Postimees. (In Estonian)
- ^ Uuenenud lennujaam saab kevadel Lennart Meri nimeliseks. 21 September, 2008. Tallinna Lennujaam. (In Estonian)
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tallinn Airport |
- Official website
- AIP Estonia EETN AD 2 Tallinn - information from AIP Estonia (.pdf)
- Estonia air transport infrastructure (.pdf)
- Tallinn Life: A guide to Tallinn Airport, including transferring from the airport to the city
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