The Estonian state on July 3 declined an offer from Latvia to acquire a stake in airBaltic, opting instead to invest more in Tallinn Airport and new flight connections, said

Leis said on Wednesday: "Our first clear priority is to develop Tallinn Airport, which our people can fly via to more destinations and with better times, and for that, at this point, there is no need to own a stake in any single airline."

And since airBaltic's market share in Tallinn is the largest, at about 30 percent, then with this airBaltic will benefit the most from this cooperation," he added.

"airBaltic is a very capable airline, which is truly important for Estonia and for Tallinn Airport, so I hope that once they have a new strategy and management in place, they will continue even more strongly than before. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed for them, and even without acquiring a stake, we are working very closely together and have a good working relationship," Leis went on.

Leis rejected claims that Estonia acquiring a stake and gaining a seat on the airline's supervisory board would give more scope for influencing the airline's activities in a favorable direction:

"If we only have a small stake, be it in airBaltic or elsewhere, that stake will not be enough to steer the game, while even without ownership we can attract more destinations to Tallinn," Leis added, noting that airBaltic has grown to the extent that in any case it needs to consider its representation both in Estonia and Lithuania.

He also noted airBaltic currently runs at a loss and is "undergoing major changes," adding "under the current circumstances, developing Tallinn Airport is the preferred option."

Eesti 200 leader and Education Minister Kristina Kallas told ERR on Wednesday that the decision not to acquire a stake in airBaltic related mainly to the poor financial situation.

"The main factor was that airBaltic's losses are so large that why should we put money into a loss-making company," Kallas said. "I don't think it's reasonable to put Estonian taxpayers' money into that," she added.

On the other hand, airBaltic can still profitably fly from Tallinn Airport regardless of whether Estonia holds a stake in the company or not, Kallas added.

Leis said the goal with Tallinn Airport is to raise passenger throughput annually from the current 3.5 million to five million by 2030. This would require the expansion of the airport terminal, the freezing of airport fees for three years, and continuation of the route development program, by offering various cooperation models to airlines, in order to attract new routes.

At the same time, if airBaltic does get floated on the stock exchange this year or in 2026, discussions with Latvia will resume, Leis added, though stressed Estonia had substantive bargaining power over Latvia's offer – €14 million for a 10 percent stake – as the same offer had been made to German carrier Lufthansa, who accepted it.

Leis called this "a very fair offer from the Latvians, as they had previously stated they would offer the same conditions as to Lufthansa," even as Lufthansa has other interests in the use of airBaltic's planes, he said.

Leis also expressed doubt whether Lithuania, which was made a similar offer, would accept it, saying: "As far as I know, Lithuania has not yet made a decision, but I am fairly certain that they are thinking more or less the same way we are."

airBaltic reportedly leased 19 aircraft with crews to Lufthansa for this summer. A planned IPO remains on the back burner, however. Martin Gauss was dismissed as airBaltic CEO in April.

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