Former minister recommends buying a minority stake in airBaltic for information
Former Minister of Infrastructure and current opposition politician Vladimir Svet (SDE) believes Estonia should consider acquiring at least a minimal stake in Latvian airline Air Baltic in order to gain access to information about the company's operations.
Commenting on the Latvian government's proposal to offer Estonia and Lithuania a stake in airBaltic, Vladimir Svet expressed hope that a model could be agreed upon that would grant Estonia the smallest possible ownership share while still providing access to as much information as the company is reasonably willing to share.
"Half-jokingly, one could say that airBaltic is effectively Estonia's national airline today, as it operates about half of the departures from Tallinn Airport. That means we must have as much insight as possible into what's going on in the company. We need to be able to forecast how it will develop and maintain very close relations with the company's leadership," Svet said. "From that perspective, I think it would be beneficial for Estonia to hold even a symbolic stake in airBaltic — perhaps as its smallest shareholder, owning 1 percent or even 0.1 percent of the shares. As small a stake as possible, yet still within the circle of owners, so we have some degree of access to information," he explained.
At the same time, Estonia cannot rely solely on airBaltic to maintain its air connections, Svet emphasized. Instead, the country must also work to attract other airlines and carriers to avoid becoming overly dependent on a single company. "Because, as we know from our own experience, airlines do have a tendency to go bankrupt from time to time," he noted.
According to Svet, Tallinn Airport's longstanding strategy of diversifying its air service portfolio has been the right one — but to implement it successfully, the airport needs funding.
In light of that, he criticized the government's recent decision to extract dividends from the airport, arguing that it should be reconsidered. "Even if there's an urgent need to collect dividends, it should not be done on the scale the government has now chosen," Svet said.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Minister of Infrastructure Kuldar Leis (Reform), acting as the representative of the state — the sole shareholder of Tallinn Airport — had decided to distribute nearly €4.4 million in dividends from the airport's retained earnings. After the payout, around €80.4 million in retained earnings will remain.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Mait Ots
