Pärnu Airport is facing its third successive summer without any international flights. The airport currently only serves the remote island of Ruhnu and hosts charter flights. Last year it served approximately 1,000 passengers.

The Pärnu authorities have proposed privatizing the airport, while Finnish company Redstone Aero is interested in running it and wants to start by introducing flights from Finland and Sweden.

"We are ready to start. First, we need decisions and a shared understanding of what to do. Then hopefully we can sign the contracts and be ready to start," said Redstone Aero Board Chair Esa Korjula.

Currently, the Estonian state provides €0.5 million a year to support the maintenance of Pärnu Airport. In recent years, the amount paid by the city has reached nearly €300,000.

Redstone Aero hopes both the state and city will continue to provide the same amount of financial support going forward.

Pärnu Mayor Kristel Voltenberg is not overly optimistic about that happening.

"As mayor and on behalf of the entire coalition, we are still very serious about the €300,000 we pay each year to maintain the airport," said Voltenberg.

And to make very clear decisions about whether and how the city of Pärnu could participate in this project. I may be wrong, but at the moment I feel that this business project has not been fully thought through,"

According to Voltenberg, in order to attract larger airlines the airport needs more investment than initially thought.

The government now has to decide what to do next.

"Their expectation is that the airport will continue to be supported," said Sander Salmu, deputy secretary general for mobility at the Ministry of Climate.

"However, from the state's point of view, another question is how these flights will get there and what the local government's contribution will be. If the state decides to go down the privatization route, there will definitely be a public tender; it cannot simply be sold to one company by decision. Privatization is one alternative that could be offered to the government," Salmu explained.

The future of Pärnu Airport may become clearer as early as this summer, when the ministry plans to present its potential development plans for regional airports to the government.

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