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Airport Tallinn (Estonia)

Tallinn Airport
Tallinna lennujaam
IATA: TLL ICAO: EETN
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Estonian Government
Serves Tallinn, Estonia
Elevation AMSL 131 ft / 40 m
Coordinates 59°2459N 024°4757E / 59.41639, 24.79917
Website www.tallinn-airport.ee
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
08/26 10,070 3,070 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2007)
International Passengers 1,708,024
Domestic Passengers 20,406
Total passengers 1,728,430
Statistics from AS Tallinna Lennujaam.[1]

Tallinn Airport or Ülemiste Airport (IATA: TLL, ICAO: EETN; Estonian: 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 city center 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.

Contents

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 modernized in 1999 and greatly expanded in 2008.

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.

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, Hugo Boss and JOOP shops 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 the terminal, one stop in front of the departure area (the bus comes from the city center) and another one in front of the arrivals area(the bus goes to the city center). There are two ground handling agencies: Tallinn Airport GH and Estonian Air.

Renaming

After the death of former president of Estonia Lennart Meri on March 14, 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, Charles de Gaulle Airport, etc.[2]. 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[3]).

The name change was discussed at a board meeting on March 29, 2006[4], 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[5]

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]

Annual passenger statistics for Tallinn Airport
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

Baltic's busiest airports by passenger traffic
Rank City Airport Passengers (2007)
1. Riga Riga International Airport 3 160 954
2. Tallinn Tallinn Airport 1 728 430
3. Vilnius Vilnius International Airport 1 717 222
4. Kaunas Kaunas International Airport 391 000
5. Palanga Palanga International Airport 93 379

Airlines and destinations

Cargo airlines

Charters

References

  1. ^ a b "Airport statistics".
  2. ^ Ideon, A. Lennu jaam. 15 March, 2006. Eesti Ekspress. (In Estonian)
  3. ^ City paperThe Baltic States
  4. ^ Lennujaama nõukogu arutab nimevahetust. 29 March, 2006. Postimees. (In Estonian)
  5. ^ Uuenenud lennujaam saab kevadel Lennart Meri nimeliseks. 21 September, 2008. Tallinna Lennujaam. (In Estonian)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tallinn Airport
v  e
Tallinn landmarks
Buildings & Structures
Precincts
Historic Centre (Old Town) · Kadriorg · Kalamaja
Nature and Parks
Cultural Institutions
Sports
Transportation
Port of Tallinn · Airport · Copterline · Railway · Elektriraudtee · Edelaraudtee · GO Rail · Bus · Bekker Port · Muuga Cargo Port
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