Decemeber 24, 2000, A new airline for the Baltic state of Estonia is to be set up by Finnair, the national carrier of Finland. Finnair has started a process to establish an Estonian airline and to acquire a license for air traffic operations. The application process is expected to lead to a positive result in January-February 2001. The license has been applied for with the business name Aero. The registration application of the limited company "Aero Airlines AS" has been submitted to the Estonian authorities. The formation of the company's ownership structure is still unfinished; Finnair also aims to get Estonian partners to join the company.

The aim of the company is to act as a significant airline operator in the Baltic area and from Estonia to Finland. In the future, the intention is to operate elsewhere in the EU and in Scandinavia too. The application and the future airline operation are based on international and Finnish standards. In the transition period, the airline pilots would mainly come from Finland. No decision has yet been made concerning the schedule and scope of the air traffic to be started. Technically, the operations can be started in the summer of 2001, at the earliest.