New book about the history of Estonian Air, published December 2016

The book is about the history of Estonian Air, including the shifting strategies of its different owners and the shifting competetive environments and the creation of its successor, as well as detailed descriptions of the events that lead to its demise.

The text is also in English. Although shorter (about half, appr. 100 pages) than the original Estonian text, the English version is much more than just a summary and offers detailed insight into the almost 24 years of existence of Estonian Air and even shortly about aviation in Estonia and the Baltics before Estonian Air. Includes complete tables of Estonian Air routes and aircraft throughout the history of the carrier. 16 Pages with colour photos of aircraft, old advertisements and other motives related to Estonian Air.

Estonian Air was founded a few months after Estonia's restoration of independence and operated for almost a quarter of a century. Starting with Soviet aircraft inherited from the local division of Aeroflot, Estonian Air created new direct connections to the West, that Estonia had been cut off from for half a century. As Estonia itself Estonian Air became westernized, changing the Soviet aircraft with Western ones, a development that continued after partly privatization.

During the world-wide aviation crisis following 9/11 it managed to operate with profit for 5 years in a row, but not when the general world economic crisis struck. A dispute between the owners led the state to buy back Estonian Air and implement an unrealistic expansion plan. Although the state soon realized it was on the wrong track and instead implemented a turnaround plan that began to bring back profitability at last, the operations had to cease due to the errors of the past, as the EU demanded capital used on the abandoned expansion plan had to be repaid to the state. The author worked in Estonian Air from 1996 to 2005, from second half of 1997 as Financial Director.

The table of content of the English version, with some of the headlines from each of the chapters mentioned: (link)

Read the preface and the first page of the first chapter (link)

Further information and possibility to order (to Denmark 50 DKK, picked up in the Copenhagen area (Holte) or 92 DKK including shipping, for other EU countries: 20 EUR incl. shipping, non EU countries - please ask): ovraamat@panbaltica.com