100 years ago: airmail clears blockade
In the winter of 1919/1920 Estonia was isolated from the outside world because of bad weather conditions and armed conflicts.
As Camille Allaz discovered (The History of Air Cargo and Airmail, p. 47), taking to the air the only solution: from 7 February to 15 March 1920 an airmail service operated between Tallinn and Helsinki in Finland, which, despite the short distance (180 km) and the high prices, cleared the blockade.
The first flight, exactly 100 years ago today, carried 164 kg of mail. Volumes have increased exponentially since then: in 2018 TLL handled 11,518 t of air freight, 2,535 t of which were airmail, up 20.9% from the previous year.
HEL, which, mainly thanks to Finnair Cargo, has become one of the 20 largest air freight hubs in Europe, recorded a throughput of 229,532 t last year, 8,078 t of which were airmail (+2.2%). (ah)