Estonian Air

Anyone who traveled through the airports around the Baltic Sea between the 1990s and 2015 almost certainly ran into it: Estonian Air, Estonia’s small flag carrier with the ES- registration on the fuselage. In almost 24 years it experienced nearly everything an airline from the former Eastern Bloc could experience – the Soviet legacy, the entry of Western investors, several fleet changes and, in the end, a dispute with Brussels that it did not survive. Here you learn where Estonian Air came from, which aircraft it flew and how to recognize it on old photos.

Estonian Air at a glance

Estonian Air was Estonia’s national airline, headquartered and with its hub at Tallinn Airport. It was founded on December 1, 1991, as a state-owned joint-stock company – only a few months after Estonia regained its independence. The first fleet consisted of aircraft types of Soviet design.

The airline’s profile stayed fairly constant over the years. From Tallinn, scheduled flights went to Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Germany, France and Austria, but also to Russia and Ukraine. With only a small home market, Estonian Air always depended on connecting passengers and on links to larger networks. For a long time these links came through Scandinavian partners: first Maersk Air and later SAS were co-owners. According to Wikipedia, frequent flyers at Estonian Air used the SAS program EuroBonus. Estonian Air itself was not a member of any of the big alliances.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code OV: appeared before the flight numbers, on tickets and on the departure boards.
• ICAO code ELL: the identifier in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign ESTONIAN: how the crews identified themselves on the radio.

The ICAO code ELL is a nice example of codes not always being intuitive: it has nothing to do with the country code EE, which stands for Estonia. Why IATA and ICAO codes are built so differently is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. For your logbook, that means: when you add old sightings, record OV and ELL separately – that way you can reliably find the entries later.

History: from independence to liquidation

Starting with a Soviet legacy (1991–1995)

When Estonian Air got going at the end of 1991, the fleet consisted of whatever was available in the country: Tupolev Tu-134As for the longer routes, Yakovlev Yak-40s for shorter connections and a few Antonov An-2s. For an airline that wanted to orient itself toward the West, that was a difficult starting point: the Soviet types were thirsty, loud and not in much demand in the West. The Tu-134 and An-2 stayed in the fleet until 1996, the Yak-40 until 1998.

Western aircraft and Scandinavian owners (1995–2008)

From 1995, the first Boeing 737-500s arrived – the switch to Western technology had begun. In 1996, two Fokker 50s leased from Maersk Air followed. That fit the new ownership structure: in the same year, Estonian Air was partially privatized. Denmark’s Maersk Air took 49 percent, and the Estonian investment bank Cresco another 17 percent. The state kept the rest.

In 2003, Maersk Air sold its stake to SAS. That put Estonian Air in the Scandinavian airline’s sphere of influence for several years. The Fokker 50s left the fleet in 2003. In April 2006, a Boeing 737-300 that had previously flown for Air New Zealand was added. Economically, though, the tide turned from 2006: from then on, Estonian Air posted only losses.

Regional subsidiary and first state aid (2008–2012)

In March 2008, the subsidiary Estonian Air Regional began operations, at first with one and later with two Saab 340s. It took over shorter routes, such as to Kuressaare on the island of Saaremaa and to Helsinki, Stockholm and Vilnius; St. Petersburg and Minsk were added later.

Around 2010 the balance among the owners tipped. The state injected new capital, SAS’s stake shrank, and in the end Estonia took over the airline almost entirely. At the same time another fleet changeover began: from 2011 Bombardier CRJ900s arrived, from 2012 Embraer E170s. By the end of 2012, the last Boeing 737s had left the fleet. With the switch to regional jets, the airline wanted to fly more economically on its rather thin routes.

Restructuring under observation (2012–2015)

After weak figures for 2012, the government dismissed then-CEO Tero Taskila; from November 2012, Jan Palmér led the company. In 2013, Estonian Air Regional was dissolved and its operations merged into the parent company; the Saab 340s flew under the parent’s umbrella until April 2013. The airline shrank its network and tried to deploy aircraft on behalf of other airlines – among other things, it flew for Lithuania’s Air Lituanica in 2013, until Estonian Air terminated the contracts in November 2013 over outstanding invoices. In 2015, two Embraer 170s were leased on a wet lease to Austrian Airlines.

In parallel, a procedure was running in Brussels that decided the airline’s future. The European Commission examined the capital injections and the later rescue loan in a formal state aid procedure. In 2014, revenue was just under 70 million euros according to Wikipedia, and the loss a good 10 million euros.

The end: the EU state aid decision

The demise of Estonian Air is one of the best-known examples of how European state aid law can bring down an airline. The Commission examined several measures by the Estonian state and reached a clear conclusion in early November 2015. According to Postimees’ report, the aid in question was as follows:

Measure	Period	Amount	Commission’s assessment
Capital injection	November 2010	17.9 million euros	unlawful aid
Capital injection in two tranches	December 2011 and March 2012	30 million euros	unlawful aid
Rescue loan in several tranches	December 2012 to November 2014	37 million euros	unlawful aid
Planned further capital increase	not yet paid out	about 40 million euros	prohibited
State participation in a capital increase	2009	2.48 million euros	in line with market, no aid

The deciding factor was a principle of EU law often summarized as “one time, last time”: a company may receive rescue and restructuring aid only once within ten years. Estonia, however, had helped several times between 2010 and 2014. In addition, the Commission did not consider the restructuring plan viable – by its assessment, the airline would have continued to depend on state money. Moreover, in its view, sufficient compensatory measures for competitors were lacking.

The consequence: Estonian Air would have had to repay about 85 million euros plus interest. The airline could not raise that sum. On Sunday, November 8, 2015, the aircraft stayed on the ground, and the company went into liquidation. At that time, according to Wikipedia, the state held about 97 percent of the shares.

The successor was already waiting

The Estonian government had made provisions. As early as September 2015, it founded the state-owned Nordic Aviation Group, which took over the first flights from Tallinn on November 8, 2015 – the first flight to Amsterdam was operated, according to Wikipedia, by bmi regional on a wet lease. Most of the flights in the first year were flown by Slovenia’s Adria Airways. From 2016 the company operated under the brand Nordica and used its own codes, not those of Estonian Air.

Nordica later focused largely on flying on behalf of other airlines and itself ceased operations in November 2024; in early 2025 it was declared insolvent. Estonia has had no classic national airline since; Tallinn is served mainly by foreign companies, such as airBaltic from Riga or Finnair from Helsinki.

The route network

Estonian Air was a feeder and connecting airline. Shortly before the end, it flew from Tallinn to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Nice, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Trondheim, Vilnius, Kyiv, Moscow Domodedovo and St. Petersburg, and also to Vienna. The list shows the airline’s dual role well: it connected little Estonia with the hubs in the west and north while also serving routes toward the east.

Germany was part of the network the whole time, with changing destinations:

• Hamburg: served year-round latterly – probably the most important German destination of the late phase.
• Munich: seasonal, in the schedule in 2008, among other years.
• Berlin Tegel: from 2009, latterly seasonal.
• Frankfurt: until 2009, then discontinued.
• Hannover: from April 2012 with six flights per week, later given up.

London and Riga were also on the schedule at times. In Scandinavia, the airline was regularly seen at airports such as Copenhagen and Stockholm Arlanda, and in the Baltics in Vilnius and at times in Riga.

The fleet

Estonian Air’s fleet history is especially appealing for spotters because it covers three eras in a few years. The following overview draws on the fleet lists of the German- and English-language Wikipedia; the years refer to service with Estonian Air.

Type	In service	Role	Spotter note
Antonov An-2	1991–1996	Light aircraft from Soviet stocks	Rarity, hardly any photos
Yakovlev Yak-40	1991–1998	Short haul	Three-engine jet with rear boarding stairs
Tupolev Tu-134A	1991–1996	Main type of the early years	Glazed nose, T-tail
Boeing 737-500	1995–2012	Backbone for almost two decades	Shortest 737 Classic
Fokker 50	1996–2003	Turboprop, leased from Maersk Air	High wing with six propeller blades
Boeing 737-300	2006–2012	Larger capacity, ex Air New Zealand	Longer than the -500
Saab 340	2008–2013, 2015	Estonian Air Regional, latterly operated by NextJet	Small turboprop with 33–36 seats
Bombardier CRJ900	2011–2015	Regional jet with 88 seats	Rear engines, T-tail
Embraer E170	2012–2015	Regional jet with 76 seats	Engines under the wing
ATR 42-500	2014–2015	In service briefly	High-wing turboprop

Exactly how big the fleet was at the end cannot be stated cleanly. The German Wikipedia lists three CRJ900s, four Embraer 170s and one Saab 340 from NextJet for June 2015. The English Wikipedia lists six aircraft at the time of the shutdown, including CRJ700s. One thing is certain: at the end Estonian Air was a pure regional jet airline that wanted to phase out the Embraers in favor of the CRJs. You will find the manufacturers of these types under Bombardier and Embraer.

How to recognize Estonian Air

Since the airline has been history since 2015, you meet Estonian Air today only on archive photos – in your own collection, in photo databases or in old spotter albums. The surest features are the Estonian registration with ES- and the “Estonian Air” titles on the fuselage. How registrations are structured in general is explained in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

Beyond that, the aircraft type helps you place the date. The paint scheme changed over the years, so the type is often the better clue to the era:

The CRJ900 and E170 have a similar number of seats but are easy to tell apart: on the CRJ the engines sit at the rear of the fuselage, on the Embraer under the wings. You will find more in the article Recognizing regional jets.

Estonian Air in the Baltic context

After 1991, the three Baltic states took similar paths with very different outcomes. In Latvia, airBaltic emerged as an airline that still flies today and has built Riga into a connecting hub. After 2015, Estonia first relied on Nordica, which flew mainly on behalf of others and gave up in 2024.

Today Tallinn Airport is a compact airport with many guest airlines. If you spot there, you see many of the types Estonian Air once flew, too – just in other colors. An overview of the scene of small companies is given in the article Regional airlines in Europe.

Common mix-ups

• Equating Estonian Air and Nordica – Nordica was an independent new company with different codes, not a renamed Estonian Air.
• Taking ELL for a country code – Estonia’s country code is EE; ELL is the airline’s ICAO identifier.
• Thinking Estonian Air was a SAS company – SAS was a minority shareholder with 49 percent, and the airline remained independent.
• Mixing up the CRJ900 and E170 – engines at the rear mean CRJ, engines under the wing mean Embraer.
• Misattributing wet-lease flights – if an Estonian Air jet flies for Austrian or Air Lituanica, record the flight number and the operating airline separately.

Conclusion

Estonian Air was small, but its history says a lot about aviation in the Baltic region after 1991: from Soviet legacy through Scandinavian investors to a fleet of modern regional jets. In the end it lacked a business model that works without state money – and the European Commission drew the line in November 2015. For spotters, an airline with a surprisingly varied fleet remains, living on today only in archives.