Air Lituanica has signed an agreement to lease a 76-seater Embraer E170 jet from Estonian Air. The lease contract is valid until the end of 2015.
2013-06-06 — /travelprnews.com/ — The leased aircraft is dedicated for flights from Vilnius to Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin starting at the end of June. Air Lituanica flights will be marketed under Air Lituanica brand and operated with Estonian Air flight number.
In addition to aircraft lease, airlines will cooperate in providing commercial services, like sales of tickets on point-to-point and connecting flights, revenue management, interline and code-share agreements.
According to Mr. Erikas Zubrus, the CEO of Air Lituanica it is very important to have a strong partner during the phase of entering the aviation market. Through the service agreement, Air Lituanica will be able to use already working booking channels, and agreements with partner airlines. “Air Lituanica has chosen Estonian Air as a commercial partner to ensure a wide distribution network throughout the world and to offer connecting flights starting from Vilnius to more than 100 cities,” said Erikas Zubrus.
“Estonian Air is a cost effective airline and cooperation between the two Baltic airlines will allow us to achieve more efficiency and provide competitive services,” said Mr. Jan Palmér, CEO of Estonian Air.
Air Lituanica will start flying from Vilnius to 6 European cities with Embraer E170 and E175 type aircraft, leased from Estonian Air and ECC Leasing respectively. The first flight from Vilnius to Brussels will take place on the 30th of June, and will be followed by flights to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich and Moscow.
Ticket sales for Air Lituanica flights from Vilnius to Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin will start in the first week of June.
Information on Air Lituanica
Air Lituanica is a new Lithuanian airline. The company plans to begin convenient direct flights from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and to improve air travel links with Lithuania. In the first year of operations Air Lituanica will start 6 routes operating two Embraer E-jets from Vilnius Airport: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Moscow, Munich and Prague. In 3 years Air Lituanica will grow its fleet to 4-5 regional aircraft, serving 10-12 routes from Vilnius.
Information on Estonian Air
Estonian Air, Estonia’s national carrier, is the biggest operator at Tallinn Airport. Estonian Air is focusing on serving Estonian market with the core route network, where there is a solid fundamental demand. The routes are serviced with three CRJ900 and two Embraer 170 aircraft, the airline has been looking for production contracts for the two remaining E170 aircraft.
Estonian Air flies to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius and Trondheim. In addition, from June to August, Estonian Air will fly between Tallinn and Paris, and from May to September to Nice.