airBaltic and Estonian Air continue to counter LCC growth threat from Ryanair and others

The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are seeing rapid low-cost carrier growth, especially in their key market of Scandinavia. The very small or non-existent domestic markets in the Baltic nations means the local carriers are reliant almost entirely on international operations, where they must compete against foreign carriers. Like the rest of Europe, the most pronounced competition comes from LCCs.

Estonian Air and airBaltic are the key carriers of the region but foreign budget carriers such as Ryanair, Wizz Jet and Flybe are increasing their presence in the Baltic market in order to tap into the burgeoning traffic volumes.