Estonian Air to reduce the number of employees

"Noticeable cutbacks in the flight volumes unfortunately leads to operating with smaller number of employees," explained Jan Palmér, the CEO of Estonian Air. "The structure of the company will be based on operating 5 aircraft and serving 9-10 core destinations."

Estonian Air is working closely with the Estonian CAA during the whole downsizing process. "During such a large scale downsizing effort, we will consult the ECAA in every aspect of the restructuring to ensure the maximum level flight safety, which is the cornerstone in aviation," noted Palmér.

"The redundancy plan is adopted according to the decision by the Supervisory Council of Estonian Air to change the direction of the company, " said Palmér. "The model of operation for Estonian Air is based on core route network for Estonia, where there is a solid fundamental demand."

The redundancy plan is applied to personnel in administrative and flight operations divisions. "As a Company we wish to make every effort to carry out the change process with utmost possible care. The lay off process among administrative staff will start already now and the layoff of flight crews as soon as we have a clear picture of how to transfer the fleet into one type of 5 aircraft. Further details will be announced within coming weeks," added Palmér.

After redundancy, the new structure of Estonian Air foresees altogether 172 employees, out of which 100 of flight crew and the rest of support functions and operational administration.

After reducing flight capacity Estonian Air will operate to ten destinations: Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim.
Estonian Air has earlier announced the cutbacks in the flight volumes and completion of the flights on the following routes:
- Tallinn-Riga route was closed on 18 September 2012
- Last flight on Tallinn-Tartu route will take place on 21 December and on Tartu-Tallinn on 22 December 2012.
- Last flight on Tallinn-Joensuu will be operated on 27 December 2012. From 13 November until 27 December Estonian Air will operate the Joensuu route with reduced flight schedule.
- Last flight on Tallinn-Jyväskylä route will be operated on 7 January 2013.
- Last flight on Tallinn-Helsinki route will be operated on 27 January 2013.
- Starting from 26 January to 12 March 2013, Estonian Air discontinues flights between Tallinn and Paris. Prior to, flight frequencies on Tallinn-Paris route will be reduced. Estonian Air will resume flights between Tallinn and Paris to meet the higher seasonal demand on 13,15,16,18, 20, 22, 23 and 25 March 2013. Starting from 6 June to 30 August 2013, Estonian Air will operate the route with two weekly flights.
- Last flight on Tallinn-Vienna flight will be operated on 23 March 2013.
Estonian Air has decided that Hannover, Gothenburg, London City, and Tbilisi will remain unopened.