Tallinn Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tallinn Airport
Tallinna lennujaam
IATA: TLL – ICAO: EETN
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Estonian Government
Serves Tallinn, Estonia
Elevation AMSL 131 ft / 40 m
Coordinates 59°24′59″N 024°47′57″E / 59.41639, 24.79917
Website www.tallinn-airport.ee
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
08/26 10,070 3,070 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2007)
International Passengers 1,708,024
Domestic Passengers 20,406
Total passengers 1,728,430
Statistics from AS Tallinna Lennujaam.[1]
airBaltic Fokker F50 at Tallinn Airport
airBaltic Fokker F50 at Tallinn Airport

Tallinn Airport or Ülemiste Airport (IATA: TLL, ICAO: EETN; Estonian: Tallinna lennujaam) is the largest airport in Estonia and home base of the national airline Estonian Air. Tallinn Airport is open to both domestic and international flights. It is located approximately 4 kilometers from the city center of Tallinn on the eastern shore of Lake Ülemiste.

The airport has a single asphalt-concrete runway that is 3070 meters long and 45 meters wide, four taxiways and eight terminal gates.

Contents

[edit] History

The building of Tallinn Airport started in 1932, and the airport was opened officially on 20 September 1936, although the airport had been operational a good while before the official opening. Before World War II, Tallinn Airport had regular connections to abroad by at least Lufthansa, LOT and the Finnish company Aero (now Finnair). Between 1945 and 1989, Aeroflot was the only airline that served Tallinn Airport. Regular flights with jet planes started in 1962. A new terminal building was built in the late 1970, and the runway was also lengthened then. The first foreign airline that did regular flights from Tallinn after World War II was SAS in the autumn of 1989. The terminal building was modernized in 1999 and a large new section added in 2008.

The runway is large enough to accept several wide-bodied aircraft, including the Airbus 330, Antonov 124, Boeing 747 and Boeing 777.

The airport has also served military uses as an interceptor aircraft base. It was home to 384 IAP (384th Interceptor Aircraft Regiment) which flew MiG-23P aircraft.

[edit] Terminal building

There are a small number of vendors in the terminal building, including a two restourants and a duty free shop. The terminal area also contains a post office, telephone services, and free wired/wireless Internet access. Car rental, travel agency, currency exchange, and porter services are also available from the terminal. There are two bus stops in front of the terminal, one stop is front of the departure doors (the bus comes from city center) and second one is front of the arrival doors (the bus goes to city center). The city center bus is number 2.

[edit] Expansion

There is currently, as of March 2008, a major expansion project going on at the airport, encompassing:

  • a large new part of the terminal, 200 meters long with 13000 sq m of area, nine new gates(plus 3 only for bus-boarding gates) and separate lounges for Schengen passengers and passengers travelling outside the Schengen zone. Allows the airport to handle twice as much passengers as it could handle before. Opened on the 30th of March, 2008, when Estonian airspace joined the Schengen Agreement.
  • two small sections being added to the existing part of the terminal, allowing for more check-in desks and offices. The first one opened on December 9th, 2007 and the other one will open in the summer of 2008.
  • refurbishment of the old part of the terminal.
  • extension of the apron.

As the new part of the terminal isn't complete yet (only 5 gates of 9 are in operation), construction work will continue on it until the summer.

[edit] Renaming

Estonian Air Boeing 737-500 at Tallinn Airport
Estonian Air Boeing 737-500 at Tallinn Airport

After the death of former president of Estonia Lennart Meri on March 14, 2006, journalist Argo Ideon from Eesti Ekspress proposed to honor the president's memory by naming Tallinn Airport after him - "Tallinna Lennart Meri Rahvusvaheline Lennujaam" (Lennart Meri International Airport), drawing parallels with JFK Airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport, etc.[2]. Ideon's article also mentioned the fact that Meri himself had shown concern for the condition of the then Soviet-era construction (in one memorable case Meri, having arrived from Japan, led the group of journalists that were expecting him, to the airport's toilets to do the interview there, in order to point out the shoddy condition of the facilities[3]).

The name change was discussed at a board meeting on March 29, 2006[4], and in March 2008, Estonian newspapers reported that the renaming would happen in 2009[5]

[edit] Statistics

Total passengers using the airport has increased on average by 14.2% annually since 1998. Passenger data reflects international and domestic flights combined, share of domestic flights compared to international flights was marginal. Passenger and cargo numbers exclude direct transit.[1]

Annual passenger statistics for Tallinn Airport
Year Total Passengers Aircraft movements Total Cargo
1998 563,946 24,951 5,991
1999 550,747 23,590 5,326
2000 559,658 23,358 4,690
2001 573,493 23,633 4,543
2002 605,697 26,226 4,292
2003 715,859 25,294 5,080
2004 997,461 28,149 5,237
2005 1,401,059 33,610 9,937
2006 1,541,832 33,989 10,361
2007 1,728,430 38,844 22,764


[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Charters

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Airport statistics.
  2. ^ Ideon, A. Lennu jaam. 15 March, 2006. Eesti Ekspress. (In Estonian)
  3. ^ City paper—The Baltic States
  4. ^ Lennujaama nõukogu arutab nimevahetust. 29 March, 2006. Postimees. (In Estonian)
  5. ^ Tallinna lennujaam saab Lennart Meri nime aasta pärast. 14 March, 2008. Postimees. (In Estonian)
  6. ^ Flyg med SAS till Tallinn. Billiga flyg, flygresor, flygbiljetter, flyg billigt till Tallinn. SAS flyger alla dagar utom lördagar. - SAS Sweden

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Tallinn landmarks
Buildings & Structures
Precincts
Historic Centre (Old Town) · Kadriorg · Kalamaja
Nature and Parks
Cultural Institutions
Estonia Theatre · Museum of Art · Tallinn Zoo · Song Festival Grounds · Estonian Open Air Museum
Sports
Pirita Yachting Centre · A. Le Coq Arena · Saku Suurhall Arena · Kalevi Keskstaadion
Transportation
Port of Tallinn · Airport · Copterline · Railway · Elektriraudtee · Edelaraudtee · GO Rail · Bus · Bekker Port · Muuga Cargo Port