Nordic Aviation Group AS, otherwise known as Estonia’s national airline Nordica, hopes to start turning a profit this year.

Nordic Aviation Group AS, which launched operations exactly two years ago, has expressed its hope that the company will start turning a profit as early as this year. The airline has grown significantly on both its domestic and foreign markets, operating 16 aircraft between more than 30 destinations and with bases outside of Tallinn in a number of Northern European countries. The running financial results for 2017 are better than expected and the company says that it will end the year in the black.

Jaan Tamm, the chairman of the management board of Nordica, says that the airline’s conservative approach to forecasting its financial results has proven justified. “We’ve tended towards the conservative side of things in our forecasts from the very beginning, and tried to take a range of economic factors into account,” he explained. “We’ve good reason to be happy we have though, since we’ve ended up achieving more than we were expecting we would a couple of years ago, or for that matter even earlier this year when we were making plans.”

The business plan of the Nordic Aviation Group, which operates under the Nordica trademark, has foreseen an increase in flights on foreign markets since the group was established, as its domestic market is not big enough in the context of contemporary aviation for sustainable operations. The group is currently offering sub-contracting services to LOT Polish Airlines and SAS (using four of its aircraft to operate flights for both) and to local authorities in the Netherlands and Sweden (using one of its aircraft). In 2018 Nordica plans moderate growth on its domestic market and in its export services. It also wishes to obtain an additional back-up aircraft, since ensuring the stability of its service is, and will remain, in focus. In connection with this, 3-4 aircraft are planned to be taken into use in the coming year.

“Nordica’s more than doubled its numbers in 2017 where a lot of figures are concerned,” Tamm added. “I admit that such a sudden upturn – and the tight schedule we’ve been operating due to Estonia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union – has had an impact on our service quality in the last couple of months. One late or cancelled flight is one too many as far as I’m concerned, but at the same time I know there’s not a single airline that can ever completely avoid it. Our clients expect a high-quality, dependable service, and that’s what we’ll be focussing on in the year ahead. But the growth we’ve experienced this year has been much-needed in terms of ensuring our sustainability.”