airBaltic cancels Tallinn–London Gatwick flights for winter season

Troubled Latvian carrier airBaltic has suspended flights to London Gatwick for the upcoming winter season.
Low-cost British airline Jet2 will be flying to Gatwick and other airports in the U.K. over winter.
airBaltic has informed Tallinn Airport that it will halt the Gatwick connection for the winter season, which in aviation terms runs from late October to late March, and plans to bring the route back online for next year's summer season.
airBaltic told ERR that it is conducting a review and making adjustments to its winter schedule across its network, including selected routes from all three Baltic capitals. This will include suspending a limited number of routes and adjusting flight frequencies to better align capacity with expected winter travel patterns, but "these affect only a small part of the airline's network and are part of normal schedule optimization," an airline spokesperson said.
The company has pledged to offer those who have booked flights during the winter period a refund, or to provide another flight within 14 days either side of their original booked date. These can be requested via airBaltic's website.

Tallinn Airport board member Eero Pärgmäe said the aviation winter season in this region is usually about 20 percent quieter than the summer season in terms of flight numbers, adding it is "entirely normal for airlines to make minor changes to the schedules of flights that are already on sale."
This winter, the Latvian airline will fly from Tallinn to 12 destinations: Amsterdam, Brussels, Funchal (Madeira), Geneva, Malaga, Munich, Paris, Riga, Salzburg, Tenerife, Vienna and Vilnius.
airBaltic reported losses of €44.34 million last year, though revenues increased by 4.2 percent compared with 2024, to €779.34 million.
A shareholders' meeting was due to take place earlier this week with seeking short-term financing from those shareholders on the agenda, but due to a lack of quorum this meeting was canceled. While another meeting is scheduled for August 17, interest payments on the airline's loans are due three days before that.
As for other carriers flying from Tallinn, Pärgmäe noted that not all have finalized their routes, though there have been some positive announcements. Notably, Jet2.com has announced that it will fly to Tallinn from five U.K. cities during this year's Christmas tourism season, up from three previously, with one of these being London Gatwick. Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leeds Bradford are the other U.K. winter destinations for Jet2.

"The airline has nearly twice as many tickets on sale for its Tallinn routes as it did last winter season, and approximately 10,000 British travelers are expected to visit Estonia on these flights," Pärgmäe said.
German airline Eurowings has said it will prolong flights on the Tallinn–Düsseldorf route, which it opened this summer, into the winter season, taking a break from mid-November to mid-December, then resuming services over the Christmas and New Year break. After January 4, Eurowings connections from Tallinn will resume on March 8 next year.
Meanwhile Hungarian no-frills carrier Wizz Air will continue operating most of the routes it opened in the summer during the winter.
In addition to airBaltic, Eurowings, Jet2 and Wizz Air, nine more airlines currently operate scheduled flights from Tallinn Lennart Meri Airport. They are: Finnair, LOT, Lufthansa, Norwegian, NyxAir, Pegasus, Ryanair, SAS, SunExpress, SWISS and Turkish Airlines.
Estonia's own Nordica was wound up in 2024.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Andrew Whyte











