Passenger traffic up, but bottom line under pressure (269 words)

Published: 6/7/2001

The two major Baltic airports have reported their operating results for the first five months of 2001, showing some growth over the same period in 2000. Estonia's state-owned Tallinn Airport handled 231,215 passengers in January-May 2001: an increase of 3% over the first five months of 2000. While volumes in May reflected the five-month trend, recording a 3.2% growth rate, the airport has suffered a slow down since April 2001, when it boosted passenger numbers by 8% to 44,555, compared to April 2000. Tallinn Airport handled 559,892 passengers in 2000, 1.7% more than in 1999, but well below the capacity of its 1.4m passenger refurbished terminal that was reopened in early 2000. In 2001, Tallinn Airport expects to increase passenger numbers by 6.5%. In 2000, Tallinn Airport made a loss of 8m kroons ($0.45m), according to Sven Ratassepp, Deputy Marketing Director. He attributed the shortfall to the repayment of dollar loans taken out in 1994, in order to fund runway reconstruction, which was heavily impacted by the decline of the kroon against the dollar. In January-May 2001, Latvia's Riga International Airport handled 228,836 passengers: an increase of 5% on the same period of 2000. In May, the airport served 57,248 passengers: an increase of 5.4% on May 2000. In 2000, Riga International Airport handled a total of 574,000 passengers, up 2% over 1999, earning the airport a profit of Lat 222,948 ($354,000), but a significant decline compared to the $1.3m earned in 1999. The airport attributed the decline to higher operating costs and investments in infrastructure improvement.

Article ID: 2576