Copterline Resumes Flights to Estonia

Wednesday resumed helicopter flights between Finland and Estonia, which were suspended soon after a fatal crash killed all 14 people on board. The Finnish company restarted the service with one helicopter flying 12 return flights from Helsinki every weekday to the Estonian capital, Tallinn. It plans to add another helicopter later this year.

The service was disrupted in 2006 following falling demand in the aftermath of the August 2005 accident when the company's U.S.- Sikorsky S-76 helicopter fell into the Baltic Sea soon after takeoff from Helsinki. All 14 on board two Finnish pilots and 12 passengers drowned as the helicopter sank in around 10 seconds.

An international investigative commission last year found that a malfunction in the helicopter's steering system had been the likely cause of the crash. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., United Technologies Corp.,

There were heavy storms in the region that day, but the commission dismissed weather as a factor, maintaining the accident was caused by technical failure. Copterline was restructured last year with new owners, and now uses an Italian-British AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter on the 80-kilometer (50-mile) route. Demand has been satisfactory," Copterline Managing Director Jerker Molander said. We are aiming at an annual passenger count of some 70,000."

The 18-minute connection between the two capitals proved highly popular after it was started in 2000, especially among businesspeople. At its peak, Copterline annually carried 75,000 passengers on the route.

Source http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5686822.html

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