This year has been full of challenges for Estonian operator Diamond Sky. The company's fleet has grown significantly, and it has also widened its scope of activities. “Since the beginning of the year we have established our own training organisation Diamond ATO, and the first group of students are already completing their helicopter PPLs,” explains president and CEO Ken Koort. “We see it as growing trend, and by the end of this year we will launch our e-learning platform offering several aviation related training courses to other operators and airlines. There are more and more people interested in private aviation and its benefits. This is partly caused by the COVID-19 related restrictions on normal airlines, which are not operating as they used to a couple of years back.”

A Phenom 300 has joined the fleet in recent months, together with a Learjet 60XR and a PC-12. Just one month ago Diamond Sky picked up a brand new Airbus EC130. “Those and some other aircraft in the pipeline keep our flight operations manager and other nominated postholders very busy, meaning less time for holidays this summer, but hopefully it will pay off,” Koort adds. “I hope we will manage with the workload, and on the positive side it means we are hiring as well to grow the company and its activities.”

As the company's main base is at Tallin's Lennart Meri airport, it is actively having consultations and meetings with different stakeholders to have its own 7,000 sqm hangar for fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, together with an FBO, which is still missing in Tallinn. The whole complex is carefully thought through and will help to boost Estonian private and general aviation.

For the second year, Diamond Sky was the lead organiser for a summer aviation seminar in Estonia together with the Estonian Aviation Cluster focussed on regional aviation, its future, challenges and possibilities as well as introducing new green, electric aviation projects, which Koort says are becoming more viable year by year. “We had participants from many European countries, even from Ukraine. Esa Korjula – CEO of Redstone Aero, the developer and operator of Helsink East aerodrome – presented the new Helsinki East aerodrome project, which is full of innovation; Maria Fiskerud, project Leader at OEM Heart Aerospace and NEA, a platform where Nordic actors come together to accelerate the introduction of electric aviation in the Nordic countries, gave an interesting presentation on NEA, and the ES-19, a new 19-seater regional electric aircraft from the Heart Aerospace. The future must be more green, and we have to take care of our planet. Sergi Alegre, president of the Airport Regional Council set samples and guidelines on how to make your region or airport more attractive. Even in Estonia we have a number of airports where the international air traffic is very low. Working together will help to promote our small beautiful country.”