Nordica nudges capacity upwards as presidential traffic peaks

A surge in traffic into Estonia during the Baltic nation’s presidency of the EU has necessitated an increase in capacity at the national carrier.

The presidency of the Council of the EU rotates on a six-month basis around the organization’s 28 member states. The Estonian presidency began in July, which has resulted in the number of bureaucrats and politicians beating a path to the Estonian capital Tallinn growing considerably.

The national airline, Nordica, is increasing the number of seats on certain routes by as much as 80% compared to its normal equipment, Bombardier CRJ 700 and CRJ 900 regional jets.

On the route from Brussels, Nordica will instead wet-lease Boeing 737 equipment, initially a 162-seat 737-400, from its strategic partner airline, the Polish national carrier LOT, then a 737-700 from Bulgarian airline Bul Air.

Additionally, Nordica will lease in a 100-seat Fokker 100 from Romanian carrier Carpatair for services between larger hubs on its route network.

Since every aircraft type had its own particular demands in terms of crews and equipment, it made sense to outsource both the metal and crews, said Toomas Uibo, Nordica’s director of marketing and communication.

Nordica would monitor passenger loads closely in case further adjustments in capacity were required, he added.