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Estonian Air Airline Company is planning to launch a new charter from Moscow to Tallinn on the New Year’s Eve, says the Estonian newspaper Eesti Paevaleht.
«The charter is a one-time event’, says Elena Lebedeva, representing a press-service of Moscow office of Estonian Air. ‘The customer is Taluday Resorts, a Tallinn bureau of travels, Boeing-737 will fly from Sheremetievo on the 31st of December, the 3rd and 4th of January.’
According to Taluday Resorts, it is initiated due to increased demand of Russian tourists on New Year programs in the capital of Estonia: if last year 20,000 holiday-makers celebrated New Year’s holidays in Tallinn, this year at least 25,000 tourists are expected.
Moscow tour operators confirm the increased interest of tourists to Estonian New Year’s programs. However news about the charter is taken without enthusiasm. ‘We send tourists by trains’, - says Elena Gagarina, director of tourism in ‘Baltic-Service’ company. ‘We do not risk arranging trips by air because this option is not secured against force-majors: if a flight is delayed, holidays will be spoilt. Besides, our experience two years ago was negative: we bought 12 tickets on a regular flight and talked people into flying with a lot of difficulty. Estonian tickets of economy class can not be cancelled and you have to pay for them in advance…’
‘Another problem is that on the New Year’s Eve it is very difficult to get to Sheremetievo’, believed Natalia Fedorova, general director of Sole Ture Company. ‘If to Egypt or the Maldives there is only one option by plane, to Estonia it is easier to go by train’. Nevertheless, experts believe that the deciding factor will depend on the cost of the transport: of the price for the air ticket can compete with the cost of the railway ticket (179Euro), then it is worth it offering the charter to holiday-makers who prefer traveling by planes.
