Kuressaare Airport has flight routes not only to and from Tallinn but also outside Estonia, namely Helsinki.

Kuressaare Airport is closed to scheduled flights for three weeks from Monday, even as August is the second busiest month of the year after July, and considered the tail end of summer peak season.

Anu Lomp, head of tourism and marketing at Saaremaa's rural municipal government, said: "We very much hope that the lack of an air connection will not prevent people from coming to the island," though added some potential visitors had already been put off "as traveling by land is time-consuming."

"Of course, it is inconvenient that the airport is being closed from the beginning of August for most of the month, while the tourism season is still in full swing," she said, though it was understandable that the airport needed upgrading.

While the absolute number of air passengers is small compared with the overall number of people traveling between Saaremaa and the mainland, the economic impact per passenger can be significantly greater, particularly in the case of foreign visitors, Lomp added.

Lomp said the Tallinn-Kuressaare route has proved a pleasant surprise for many foreign visitors, noting the Helsinki-Kuressaare route has performed particularly well, carrying more than 2,300 passengers this year and with next year's flights already announced.

The Tallinn-Kuressaare air route is also important for local residents and business travelers who rely on its convenience and speed, particularly as from September there will no longer be a bus connection allowing people to reach Tallinn before 10 a.m. Maaleht reported.

Kuressaare Airport's runway will be closed for reconstruction from August 10–31, suspending scheduled flights, while rescue and medical helicopters can still function, said Tormi Loide, operations manager at Tallinn Airport, the Kuressaare airport's parent company.

The runway reconstruction was scheduled for August as Estonia's limited weather window for asphalt surfacing, markings and electrical work makes later months riskier, with September and October bringing a higher chance of delays and compromised quality, Maaleht said.

The upgrades will renew the runway's asphalt surface and markings, replace existing lights with energy-efficient LEDs, and install a Pilot Controlled Lighting (PCL) system enabling pilots to activate the airfield lights when needed.

The airport is scheduled to reopen to air traffic on September 1.

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