April saw a seven-month high in passenger through-flow at Tallinn Airport, with a significant proportion of flights being chartered planes. The development suggests public belief that the cross-border travel situation is improving, as well as a growing desire to travel again, the airport says.
The supplementary budget issued in response to the continuing coronavirus pandemic passed its Riigikogu vote Wednesday evening by 73 votes to 9, meaning the €641-million aid package, aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic, and ensuing restrictions, on the health care system, education, business, and the populace as a whole, will enter into effect.
The supplementary budget, the second of its kind, covers wage support measures and changes to the sick pay benefits regime, as well as additional provisions for mental health care, special care and rehabilitation, and additional funding for medicines, vaccination, crisis management and support for tourism, culture.
Suspended payments in the so-called second pillar of the pension scheme, referring to voluntary contributions and totaling €117 million, are also accounted for in the package.
State-owned airline Nordica will not need any state aid in the near future, the carrier's CEO, Erki Urva, says, ahead of a €641-million stimulus bill being handed to the Riigikogu this week. The airline had obtained €30 million in state aid last year.
One of the three major oil shale producers in Estonia, Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG), reported a 75 percent fall in profit for 2020. The sector, a major employer in Ida-Viru County, is being transitioned out of in the coming decades, principally to meet European Union climate change goals.
VKG s profit was €8.9 million in 2020, the company says, as noted 75 percent down on year, while revenues also fell – by 19 percent – to €208 million, BNS reports.
The company says that despite this, the slump in oil prices in the early part of 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic, which also led to reduced demand for electricity – often generated by power stations which burn shale oil – the company remained competitive and did not need to seek state aid.