Air transport

The purpose of the statistical process is to provide information on passenger and freight transport through airports.

Census survey

Air traffic through Tallinn airport by flight type and partner country

The classification is based on Eurostat’s regularly updated ICAO airport list.

Air traffic through Estonian airports

Commercial flight – an air transport flight or series of such flights performed by civil aircraft for remuneration to or from. Flights may be either scheduled or non-scheduled.

Community airport – any area in a Member State which is subject to the provisions of the Treaty and where commercial air transport operations may take place. Each Member State collects data on all Community airports in its territory with annual traffic exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand passenger units. Under Commission Regulation (EC) No 546/2005, Tallinn Ülemiste Airport (EETN) is covered by monthly data collection.

Direct transit passenger – a passenger who, after a short stop, continues his/her journey on the same aircraft on a flight having the same flight number as the flight on which he/she arrived

Domestic air traffic – the departure and destination points of a flight are in Estonia

Goods – property carried on board an aircraft (excl. stocks, mail or baggage), incl. express and diplomatic parcels

International flight – the take-off or landing of the flight is in another country

Mail – dispatches of correspondence and other objects carried on an aircraft, which have been dispatched by and intended for delivery to postal administrations

Non-scheduled flight – a charter flight performed for remuneration. A flight carried out under a valid single air service licence.

Number of passenger seats available – the total number of passenger seats available for sale between each pair of airports on a flight stage (excluding seats not actually available for the carriage of passengers because of maximum gross weight limitation)

Number of passengers on board – the number of passengers whose journey begins or terminates at the reporting airport, including connecting passengers and direct transit passengers

Scheduled flight – a flight possessing all the following characteristics:

• performed by aircraft for the transport of passengers, freight and/or mail for remuneration in such a manner that, on each flight, seats are available for individual purchase by members of the public (either directly from the airline or from its authorised agents);
• operated so as to serve traffic between the same two or more airports, either:
• according to a published timetable; or
• with flights so regular or frequent that they constitute a recognisably systematic series.

Airport

Tallinn Airport

Estonia as a whole

Flight traffic through Tallinn Airport by type of flight and partner country 2005 –…
Flight traffic through Tallinn Airport by type of flight (quarterly) 2005 –…
Flight traffic through Tallinn Airport by type of flight and partner country (monthly) 2024–…

Not applicable

passengers, flights – number;
passenger seats – number (average per aircraft type);
freight and mail transport – tonnes

Year;
quarter;
month

Official Statistics Act;

Regulation (EC) No 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air;

Commission Regulation (EC) No 158/2007 of 16 February 2007 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 as regards the list of Community airports (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Regulation (EC) No 546/2005 of 8 April 2005 adapting Regulation (EC) No 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the allocation of reporting-country codes and amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 as regards the updating of the list of Community airports (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1358/2003 of 31 July 2003 implementing Regulation (EC) No 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air and amending Annexes I and II thereto (Text with EEA relevance).

None

At the European level, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Statistics Estonia ensures the protection of data collected for the production of official statistics in accordance with the Official Statistics Act and the Personal Data Protection Act. Statistics Estonia publishes data in its database in aggregated form and ensures that data relating to an individual or enterprise cannot be identified from the published data. Secondary confidentiality is also taken into account to protect confidential data: it must not be possible to derive confidential data from the published aggregates.

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on Statistics Estonia's website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

The release calendar is available to consumers on the website Calendar.

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are published in the statistical database at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

Year;
quarter;
month

The news can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section News.

Eurostat publications on transport

Data are published in the statistical database in the following tables under the subject area Economy/Transport / Air transport:
TS203: Flight traffic through Tallinn Airport by type of flight (quarterly),
TS204: Flight traffic through Tallinn Airport by type of flight and partner country and
TS205: Flight traffic through Tallinn Airport by type of flight and partner country (monthly).

Discontinued datasets TS20: Freight and passenger traffic through Tallinn Airport (1993–2015),
TS201: Passenger traffic through airports (2001–2016, quarters),
TS202: Freight traffic through airports (2001–2016, quarters), and
TS191: Carriage of passengers and freight by Estonian air transport enterprises (2001–2024, quarters) are available under the subject area Discontinued datasets / Economy. Archive / Transport. Archive.

The database tables related to the statistical process were viewed 297 times in 2025.
This excludes views of discontinued data tables. Each table view is counted separately. The count is based on database URLs indicating that data have been selected and a table has been generated.

Under the Official Statistics Act, researchers and policymakers may apply for access to pseudonymised data in Statistics Estonia’s secure research environment. Access is governed by the Procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes, which requires the intended use of the data to be justified. Depending on the type of data, approval from the Data Protection Inspectorate or the relevant ethics committee is a prerequisite for applying for access.

The data serve as input for statistical processes 20407 "Consumer price index" and 21405 "National accounts (quarter)".

Transport statistics are also available in the
Statistics Estonia transport section,
the Eurostat transport section,
the UNECE transport section, and in
the OECD database.

The data are transmitted to Eurostat monthly via the EDAMIS data transmission system in SDMX or CSV format. Member States compile statistical reports on commercial air transport of passengers, freight, and mail, as well as civil aircraft arrivals and departures at Community airports, except for flights by state aircraft. The transmitted data relate to civil aviation only.

The metadata related to the statistical process were viewed 54 times (1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024).
This figure does not represent the number of viewers, as the metadata may have been viewed multiple times by a single user.

"Reference Manual on Air Transport Statistics";

Glossary for transport statistics (2026) (prepared by the Intersecretariat Working Group on Transport Statistics – Eurostat, the ITF, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe);

Eurostat transport methodology.

This statistical process is guided by the European Statistics Code of Practice – 2017 revised edition.

Metadata reports published by Eurostat:

Air transport measurement – passengers;

Commercial flights by reporting country and type of schedule – monthly data;

Air transport performance;

Air transport infrastructure.

Statistics Estonia has an established quality management system that integrates the various quality systems implemented within the organisation. To ensure the quality of statistical production processes and services/products, Statistics Estonia applies the European Statistics Code of Practice, the related Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF), the requirements of § 7 “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act, as well as other standards and best practices, where feasible. Compliance with these principles is laid down in Statistics Estonia’s Quality Policy and internal documents.
Coordination of the quality management system falls within the responsibility of the organisation’s Quality Manager. However, responsibility for ensuring and improving the quality of a specific process, service or product lies with the department responsible for the respective service or product. General responsibilities are laid down in the statutes of the structural units, while responsibility for specific activities and related matters is defined in internal documents.

At Statistics Estonia, statistical activities are carried out in accordance with the international Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM). Under the GSBPM, the final phase of a statistical activity is an overall evaluation. The information required for this evaluation is generated in each phase or subprocess and may take various forms, such as user feedback, process metadata, production metrics, and staff suggestions or advice. This information is used to prepare an evaluation report that identifies any quality issues associated with the specific iteration of the statistical activity and provides input for improvement actions. The department responsible for carrying out the statistical activity is also responsible for conducting the evaluation.

Transport Administration;
international organisations.

Air traffic statistics are used in the development of European Union and Estonian transport policy, as well as in the calculation of gross domestic product and the consumer price index. The data also serve as input for the development of the Estonian mobility model.

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. Surveys conducted at least once a year target both existing and potential consumers of statistics. All results are available on Statistics Estonia's website in the section User surveys. The survey referred to does not concern a specific statistical process but is a general satisfaction survey.
Information on user satisfaction can also be obtained through user feedback, which has been mostly positive.

The data comply with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

All required indicators have been collected and calculated (completeness 100%).

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient accuracy. The quality of the data received from Tallinn Airport is good.

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

Not applied

Not applicable

There is no information on major measurement errors.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Annual data are published three months after the end of the reference year (T + 3 months).
Quarterly data are published three months after the end of the reference quarter (T + 3 months).
Monthly data are published three months after the end of the reference month (T + 3 months).

The data are published once.

The data are published once.

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

100% of the data has been published on time (as announced in the release calendar).

The data are comparable with those of other European Union countries because a common methodology has been used for transport statistics.

The data are comparable over time because a common methodology has been used.

There have been no breaks in the time series; therefore, the number of observation periods in the latest unbroken time series equals the total number of observation periods.

The data are coherent with other transport statistics indicators, such as the number of passengers and the quantity of goods transported (tonnes).

The data are also coherent with the data published in the Air transport section on Eurostat's website.

The annual and quarterly data are coherent with the monthly data, as they are calculated by summing the monthly data: annual data in TS204 and quarterly data in TS203 are the sums of the corresponding monthly data in TS205.

Air transport data serve as input for national accounts and are therefore coherent with national accounts data.

The data are made internally coherent by using a common methodology in data collection and the same rules of data aggregation.

Total time spent completing the reports for the statistical process: 28 hours (data for 2025).
Costs are not calculated separately for different statistical processes.

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described on Statistics Estonia's website in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics.

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available within a year from the end of the reference period.

Not applied

This is a census survey with only Tallinn Airport included in the statistical population. Air traffic information by type of flight and partner country is collected from Tallinn Airport.

Year;
quarter;
month

Data are collected through Datagate, a self-service portal for data submission.

The data are received from one data provider and are submitted by flight.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This involves aggregating the data according to the classification, with breakdowns by direction, type of flight, and partner country.

Variables aggregated:

• number of passenger seats;
• number of passengers on board;
• freight and mail, tonnes;
• number of commercial flights – the number of passenger and freight/mail flights is calculated (excluding empty flights).

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators.

The imputation rate shows the share of imputed values among all values.
Data values are not imputed in this statistical process.

Not applied

Not applied

None