Tallinn Airport: New Wizz Air routes encourage people to travel more
Tallinn Airport board chairman Riivo Tuvike says new destinations added by low-cost carrier Wizz Air have significantly boosted passenger numbers and shifted Estonians' travel habits. The airport handled a record number of passengers in July.
Riivo Tuvike, chairman of the board of Tallinn Airport, said in an interview with ERR that the availability of direct flights from Tallinn strongly influences where Estonians choose to go on holiday. According to him, destinations offered by Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air have become increasingly popular, reshaping residents' travel preferences.
While Italy and other Western European countries used to be the more common choices, people are now flying to Eastern Europe more often. Tuvike stressed that direct routes from Tallinn largely determine where people travel — as soon as a new route opens, passengers quickly start using it.
Record passenger numbers
In July, Tallinn Airport served nearly 384,500 passengers, a new monthly record in the company's history. The most popular scheduled routes in July were flights via major European hubs — Warsaw, Helsinki and Frankfurt. Overall, in the first seven months of 2026 Tallinn Airport handled more than 2.15 million passengers, up 10.6% compared with the same period last year.
Tuvike attributed the growth to Wizz Air's cheap fares and new routes, which bring new passengers to the airport. He also revealed that talks are currently underway with several major hub airports — with London Heathrow of particular interest for the wide range of connections it would offer, as well as Madrid, which has strong links to South America.
As previously reported, this spring Wizz Air rose to second place by market share at Tallinn Airport, pushing Ryanair down to third. A year ago Wizz Air's presence in Tallinn was modest, limited to flights to London, but an aggressive expansion strategy has since added Krakow, Venice, Budapest, Vilnius, Warsaw, Rome, Gdansk and Tirana.
