Passenger numbers on Estonia’s national airline Nordica continued to grow in the first quarter of 2018, and the rate at which tickets have been purchased for summer destinations promises further growth.

A total of 125,000 passengers flew with Nordica in Q1 2018, almost 17% more than in the same period last year. The most popular destinations were Warsaw, Stockholm and Munich. Nordica accounted for 25% of market share at Tallinn Airport in the first three months of the year, with 80% of flights departing within 15 minutes of schedule and 97% of all flights being operated.

As the summer season begins, three new destinations have been added to Nordica’s schedule: year-round flights to the Danish capital Copenhagen, with 11 flights per week; and summer flights to Constanţa in Romania and Ohrid in Macedonia.

“We’re heading into our third summer season with a sense of security,” said Jaan Tamm, chairman of the management board of Nordica. “Given the number of tickets we’ve sold we’re forecasting continued growth in passenger numbers, and it’s clear that Estonian travellers want the guaranteed sunshine our summer destinations offer.”

Work at the international level has also proven successful, with Nordica’s partner network expanding further – in addition to Lufthansa, the Estonian carrier now codeshares the Tallinn-Munich route with Croatian Airlines. Flights are being introduced from the Dutch city of Groningen to Ibiza and Nice this season, and Nordica also plans to increase its export services.

In its two years of operations Nordica has become one of the most competitive airlines in its region, operating 19 aircraft – making it the biggest airline in Estonian history. It exports its flight services to Sweden, Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands and employs more than 400 aviation specialists in Estonia and abroad.