Tallinn Airport

Tallinn is one of the few European capital airports where you can take the tram almost to the fence. A single long runway, a compact terminal and a traffic mix of airBaltic, low-cost airlines, network visitors and the occasional exotic make Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport a relaxed destination for a day of spotting – ideally combined with a city trip to the Old Town or a side trip across the Baltic Sea to Helsinki.

An airport by the lake

The airport sits on the eastern shore of Lake Ülemiste, the city’s large drinking water lake, only a few kilometers southeast of the Old Town. Construction here began as early as the early 1930s: work started in November 1931, the first aircraft landed from 1932, and on September 20, 1936, the airfield was officially opened with its concrete runways.

The first proper terminal building has an eventful history. In 1938, the architect Artur Jürvetson won the competition for it, and construction began in 1939 – then came the war and the Soviet occupation. The building was only completed in 1954, in modified form and in the style of the era. From 1945 to 1989, Aeroflot was the only airline in Tallinn; in 1962, the first passenger jet took off here, a Tupolev Tu-124.

The current terminal dates from 1980. The occasion was the Olympic sailing events, which were held off Tallinn as part of the Moscow Summer Games. After independence, the airport opened quickly to the West: in 1989, SAS became the first foreign airline since World War II to resume scheduled flights. Between 2006 and 2008, the terminal was expanded by about 35,000 square meters, and since March 29, 2009, the airport has carried the name of Lennart Meri, Estonia’s first president after the restoration of independence.

One runway for everything

The layout couldn’t be simpler: a single runway, the 08/26, runs east-west. It is 3,480 meters long and 45 meters wide. It reached its current length with the extension in November 2016 and has since been considered the longest runway in the Baltics. The main taxiway runs parallel to it, with several exit taxiways leading to the aprons.

A single-runway layout has a big advantage for spotters: every movement takes place on the same runway. You don’t have to wonder whether the interesting aircraft is landing on the other runway right now. In return, the runway direction in use decides all the more strongly which end you should stand at.

Runway 08 or 26?

Aircraft take off and land into the wind. When it blows from the west, runway direction 26 is in use: approaches come from the east, and departures head toward the lake. With an east wind, the picture flips, and landings are made over the lake on 08. According to spotter guides, both directions are equipped with an instrument landing system, and there is no firmly preferred direction. Check wind and weather before you set out and look in a flight tracker to see which direction aircraft are approaching from – how that works is explained in the articles on the runway direction in use at an airport and on flight tracking with ADS-B.

Who flies in Tallinn

Since the end of the national airline Estonian Air in 2015, Tallinn has no longer had a large home airline dominating traffic. In 2014, Estonian Air still provided about a third of capacity; its wind-down was a harsh blow. Foreign airlines have taken its place since – above all the Latvian airBaltic, which operates a base in Tallinn and, according to the airport, carried about 30 percent of all passengers in 2025.

For spotters, this means a very uniform picture at the top: airBaltic’s own fleet consists exclusively of the Airbus A220-300. If you want to collect the fleet cleanly, you can’t avoid the registrations. In second place comes Ryanair with about 13 percent, typically with aircraft of the Boeing 737-800 and the 737 MAX 8. Wizz Air rounds out the low-cost offering with Airbus jets such as the A321neo; for 2026, the airline added connections to Gdańsk, Warsaw, Tirana and Rome to its program.

In addition, network airlines serve Tallinn as a feeder to their hubs. Well-known visitors include Lufthansa, Finnair, SAS, LOT Polish Airlines and Turkish Airlines, plus Norwegian. Since May 2026, Eurowings has connected Tallinn directly with Düsseldorf for the first time, and Jet2.com brings British city-break travelers from Leeds and London Gatwick to the Estonian capital in winter.

According to the airport, a total of 16 airlines served Tallinn on scheduled routes in 2025, with 51 destinations with regular direct flights. The most popular connections led to Stockholm, Riga, Helsinki and Frankfurt – fittingly, it is worth a look at the pages on Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Frankfurt Airport.

The exotics: cargo, charter, business aviation

Scheduled traffic in Tallinn is manageable and repetitive. What actually draws spotters, according to community spotter guides, are the movements in between: charter flights, freighters, business jets and occasionally military or government aircraft. The airport has several cargo terminals; in 2025, air cargo grew by almost 24 percent according to the airport.

The grounds also house maintenance companies with their own hangars as well as a complex for business aviation that opened in 2014. As a result, aircraft that aren’t in any schedule keep turning up in Tallinn – maintenance visitors, ferry flights and private jets. From recent history, many spotters still remember the jets of Nordica, founded after the end of Estonian Air, including regional jets of the type Bombardier CRJ900.

Spotting in Tallinn: no hill, but plenty of fences

There is no official visitors’ hill or observation deck in Tallinn. Still, the airport is considered friendly in the spotter community because public roads and paths lead close to the runway and taxiways in several places. Community guides such as the spotter guide describe about a dozen vantage points. Roughly, they can be divided into three groups:

• Around the terminal: from the drop-off at the departures area, along the fence by the old terminal and from a glazed gallery toward the tram stop, you look onto the apron. Here you get pushbacks, taxiing aircraft and parked planes – and restrooms and food within walking distance.
• South side of the runway: along side roads south of the airport, you stand only about 100 to 200 meters from the runway centerline and see all movements on the 08/26 and the main taxiway. During the day, you usually have the sun at your back there.
• East end and north side: at the east end of the runway, fields and paths offer approach shots of 26; on the north side, a small earth mound gives a view over the fence in the evening.

Important: according to recent notes from the spotter community, one of the most popular spots on the south side recently got a new, very tight-mesh fence. Without an elevated position, it is difficult there. Where earth banks or small hills exist, you have a clear advantage. At the spots outside the terminal, there are neither restrooms nor food – plan for that.

Getting there: tram to the terminal

Tallinn is one of the few capitals whose airport is connected by tram. Since September 1, 2017, the tram ran right to the terminal; in 2023, the section was suspended because of construction work at the port and at the new Ülemiste rail hub. Since August 1, 2026, the connection is back – with two lines at once: T2 from the direction of Kopli and T4 from the direction of Tondi, each every 10 minutes according to the operator.

In addition, there are several city bus lines, which also take you to the spots away from the terminal. Ülemiste railway station is within walking distance of the airport. The terminal for Rail Baltica, the new standard-gauge railway through the Baltics, is also being built there. The area around Ülemiste is thus becoming a second transportation center of the city. How to plan your trip to a spot in general is shown in the article Getting to your spot.

Seasons in the north

Tallinn lies at almost 60 degrees north. That shapes the spotting calendar more strongly than at Central European airports. In summer, the days are extremely long, traffic is densest and the weather most stable – the main season for spotters. From November to January, on the other hand, it is light for only a few hours, and the sky is often gray.

February and March are interesting: snow and clear days with a low sun come together, and you get subjects with deicing and snowy edges that are rare farther south. The article Plane spotting in winter has tips for cold, batteries and camera, and the article on deicing aircraft gives background on handling in frost.

Too small for the traffic: the terminal expansion

The terminal was originally designed for about 2.8 million passengers a year. With almost 3.5 million, it has long outgrown that. In 2024, the airport set a record with about 3.49 million travelers, and 2025 came in only about 4,000 passengers below. In 2026, the airport reported several monthly records, most recently a September with almost 356,000 passengers.

In December 2025, the airport therefore started the biggest construction project in its history. About 16,500 square meters of floor space are being added, and more than 18,000 square meters are being renovated. The airport estimates the cost at about 75 million euros, and the work runs in five stages until 2030. According to the airport, the bottlenecks are mainly the outdated baggage system and a border control that is too small when several aircraft arrive at the same time. The construction contract was signed in September 2026. For you as a visitor, that means paths, access and views around the terminal may change over the next few years.

Tallinn compared

In the Baltic Sea region, Tallinn combines well with other airports. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport lies on the other side of the Gulf of Finland and, as the Finnair hub, is much larger, with long-haul traffic to Asia. Tallinn’s largest airline, airBaltic, is based in Riga, which makes Riga Airport the obvious second stop on a Baltic tour; Vilnius Airport rounds out the circuit.

If you are planning a longer trip, you will find inspiration in the articles on the best spotting locations in Europe and on the spotting road trip through Europe. Before your first tour, the gear checklist and the article Plane spotting for beginners also help.

Conclusion

Tallinn Airport is small but charming: a single long runway, a terminal within sight of the city and a tram that brings you right to the building again. Scheduled traffic is shaped by airBaltic with its A220 fleet and the big low-cost airlines, and the excitement comes from network visitors, charter, cargo and business jets.

There is no visitors’ hill, but several well-known vantage points at the fence – though with the new, tight-mesh fence at one of the most popular spots, it is no longer quite as comfortable as it used to be. If you keep runway direction, light and season in mind, you can still get a lot out of a day in Tallinn.