Passenger traffic through Tallinn Airport was unchanged last year, air freight transport increased
According to Statistics Estonia, in 2025, Tallinn Airport served nearly 3.5 million passengers, which is at the same level as the year before. There was a decrease in passenger traffic on domestic routes between Tallinn and the main islands. The air transport of freight and mail increased.
Anton Kardakov, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that passenger traffic through Baltic airports levelled out last year, after a steady uptrend in five previous years. “Compared with 2024, the number of passengers was virtually unchanged at Tallinn Airport and also at Riga Airport. There was an increase in air traffic only in Lithuania, as the number of passengers grew by 8.4% compared with 2024. The number of air passengers in Lithuania was 0.5% higher than in Latvia, which had previously been at the top, and reached 7.13 million last year,” noted Kardakov.
Number of air passengers in Baltic countries, 2015–2025
| Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,160,978 | 5,145,856 | 4,227,389 |
| 2016 | 2,214,989 | 5,384,160 | 4,787,561 |
| 2017 | 2,635,145 | 6,077,854 | 5,246,101 |
| 2018 | 2,995,528 | 7,037,070 | 6,254,178 |
| 2019 | 3,258,003 | 7,785,726 | 6,504,685 |
| 2020 | 857,837 | 1,995,133 | 1,804,500 |
| 2021 | 1,292,941 | 2,336,134 | 2,464,603 |
| 2022 | 2,731,365 | 5,368,369 | 5,333,890 |
| 2023 | 2,946,375 | 6,618,744 | 5,992,018 |
| 2024 | 3,471,878 | 7,099,828 | 6,582,749 |
| 2025 | 3,472,186 | 7,100,906 | 7,135,212 |
Air passenger traffic is the busiest between Tallinn and neighbouring countries
Last year, direct flights to over 90 destinations were available from Tallinn Airport. Among the larger airports, the closest foreign destination was Helsinki-Vantaa Airport which is just 100 kilometres away. The farthest destination was Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Sri Lanka which is nearly 7,500 kilometres away.
In 2025, the busiest passenger traffic occurred between Tallinn and Stockholm Arlanda Airport, just like the year before. 322,800 passengers were carried on this route, which is similar to 2024. There was a similar number of passengers carried between Tallinn and Riga (304,200), and Tallinn and Helsinki-Vantaa (302,700). “Passenger traffic between Tallinn and Warsaw Chopin Airport ranked fifth with 241,100 passengers, whereas the number of passengers on this route was up by 17% from 2024,” added Kardakov.
Domestic air passenger traffic declined, while air freight transport increased
Domestic flights in Estonia are operated between Tallinn and the main islands. In 2025, there were 34,100 passengers flying to Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island, which is 17% less than in 2024. The number of passengers on the Kärdla route decreased even further. The number of passengers flying to Hiiumaa island through Kärdla Airport declined to the level of 2022 and totalled 11,900, which is 23% smaller than in 2024.
The air transport of freight and mail through Tallinn Airport increased by 33% compared with 2024, with a total of approximately 12,400 tonnes of freight and mail transported last year. About a fourth of the freight and mail was transported between Tallinn and Leipzig, and 16% was transported between Tallinn and Copenhagen. Purchases from Chinese online stores are often delivered to Estonia via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – air connections with these countries accounted for about a quarter of air freight transport in 2025.
Number of air passengers on domestic routes, 2017–2025
| Kärdla Airport | Kuressaare Airport | |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 8,566 | 15,958 |
| 2018 | 9,605 | 18,179 |
| 2019 | 10,948 | 20,116 |
| 2020 | 8,616 | 15,530 |
| 2021 | 10,557 | 27,992 |
| 2022 | 11,839 | 37,335 |
| 2023 | 15,982 | 41,483 |
| 2024 | 15,330 | 41,320 |
| 2025 | 11,856 | 34,127 |
See also the transport section on our website. More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.
Data as at 15 April 2026 are published. The indicator values may change if there are any revisions made in the data sources after this date.
When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.
For further information:
Annaliisa Köss
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 5696 6484
press [at] stat.ee