A lack of business interest and consequently funds is blamed.

At present, neither the City of Pärnu nor the state have any plans to establish regular international connections to and from Estonia's summer capital.

Mid-way through last month, it became clear the Helsinki-Pärnu flight route, which had been financed by a cartel of Pärnu's tourism entrepreneurs and was still operational last summer, would not return for the summer season of 2024.

Jaan Ratnik, CEO of Tervis Spa Group, one of the firms involved in the consortium, said: "It seemed at first that only two or three companies would stay on board this season, but when these companies pooled their contributions, the math sadly showed that the sum required wouldn't be met."

This has also given rise to questions on who could contribute to establishing regular international connections for Pärnu Airport.

At present the airport serves the island of Ruhnu, and is also being used to service civilian airliners, and to host some of the Estonian Defense Forces' transport planes.

Ratnik said public-private procurement rounds could be used to find connections, though conceded there will be no easy solution on the horizon.

Estonia's second city, Tartu, was able to inaugurate a regular flight to and from Helsinki at the end of March, via a state and local government collaboration.

"It would be great if Pärnu city could do exactly the same thing as the City of Tartu did," Ratnik said.

"However, on the other hand, I'm not only a company director but also a citizen, so I understand the situations in which the public sector finds itself. But over the long term, individual hotels should not be those supporting one transport connection or another," he continued.

Pärnu Airport believes regular international connections, possibly funded by local government, should remain.

The airport has not discussed this option with city authorities yet, however.

Erki Teemägi, the airport's operations manager, said: "Be it a link to Helsinki or Stockholm, it should be more regular, all the year round. /.../ Who can organize that? I would think that local government should. It would be good to find a carrier which flies to other parts of the world too."

The City of Pärnu says it supports the airport to the tune of several hundred thousand euros per year, adding that there's no plan for funding flight lines entered in the city's current budget strategy.

Pärnu Deputy Mayor Irina Talviste (Reform) said: "The agreement made is as it stands today, whereby the city helps maintain the airport, while if flight routes come here, they get supported according to entrepreneurs' desires. /.../ This is a wholly new situation for us, and we need to start thinking about how to proceed."

Talviste added that the city is certainly interested in international connections, given the significant investments made in the airport.

Taivo Linnamägi, head of the Ministry of Climate's aviation department, said Pärnu Airport is primarily important from a regional point of view.

The government also supports Pärnu Airport to the tune of hundreds of thousands of euros per year, though there is no allocated budget dedicated to creating possible international connections.

Linnamägi said: "At present there is no separate budget line with respect to international connections specifically to and from Pärnu."

Ultimately, Pärnu may not be able to secure a year-round international connection any time soon.

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