Aivo Takis

Estravel Group AS is the largest travel agency in the Baltic States. Founded in 1988 in Tallinn. Was majority owned by the Finnair Group for 20y from 1995 to 2015. Now independently owned and operating in 6 countries with 220+ professional staff in 12 IATA-accredited office locations. Combined gross sales of 140M euro (2024). See more at www.estravelgroup.com

Helin Matkatoimisto Oy is one of the leading travel agencies and tour operators in Finland, established in 1984. Offices in Jyväskylä and Helsinki. Fully licensed, bonded and IATA accredited. Helin Matkat has won several industry awards for outstanding service in the recent years.

Fully licensed, professional travel agency in the upscale Biltmore area of Phoenix, AZ. Associate level member of Internova (Travel Leaders Network) with significantly higher and better access to wholesale and special pricing, compared to affiliate members. The CEO and co-owner Olja Muursepp, a former senior specialist at American Express Centurion Travel, is currently Vice President of ASTA Arizona Chapter.

Aero Travel Pty Ltd (trading as Aerotravel & Cruise) was founded in Sydney in 2012 and got IATA accredited the same year. Proudly a member of the Magellan Travel Group/Helloworld, with access to the best wholesale fares. ATAS accredited. Member of CLIA. All clients covered by supplier protection insurance and our best price guarantee. Accepts American Express membership rewards points for payment directly at a preferred rate and no surcharge. Street office in Surry Hills (Sydney).

Sydney Eesti Selts (Estonian Society of Sydney) is one of the largest and oldest Estonian organisations in the world outside of Estonia. Established in 1927 based on the organisation first formed in 1912. Operates the Estonian Cultural Centre (Eesti Maja) at the Sydney Estonian House at 141 Campbell St, Surry Hills, NSW (Sydney) since it was completed in 1940.

As a dual citizen, Aivo ran a busy consulate in Sydney during the demanding years of 2009 to 2011, just before Estonia established their permanent presence in Australia with career diplomats. At the time, there were close to 10,000 young, inexperienced Estonians (working holiday makers and students) in Australia who needed constant help in a myriad of unexpected situations, ranging from loss of documents to accidental deaths.

Fully licenced, IATA travel agency, established in 1988. American Express Travel Representative, later member of Travelscene American Express franchise group. Aivo acquired it from the previous owner in 2003 and operated it under Smart Travel Pty Ltd, a company he established. The agency had two travel offices in Brisbane Central City area. Now owned and operating as part of RACQ Travel, a major travel agency in Queensland.

Founded by Finnair Plc and an Estonian partner Aero Holding AS (owned by Aivo Takis), using Finnair's original (1923-1968) company name AERO, Aero Airlines AS took over the local feeder traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn, and many domestic routes in Finland. It was successfully operating a fleet of ATR72 between 2001 and 2007. The last flight of the company took place in January 2008. Aero's demise was only due to the strong trade unions in Finland, who won the battle against business sense (i.e. reduced operating costs with an Estonian crew and Tallinn as the technical service base). At the height of its activities, Aero Airlines had 18 aircraft on the regional fleet, making it the largest ever Estonian airline (record held until 2018), and also the most profitable one ever. The IATA carrier code of Aero Arirlines was EE, which is the same as the ISO country code for Estonia, and is now held by Nordica/XFly.

Until 2005, American Express was the world's largest travel related services company. It had proprietary or franchised presence in most countries of the world for almost a hundred years. Now only active in corporate travel (American Express GBT) and holding a leading position in the world in the corporate segment. Estravel Group AS, now an Amex GBT partner in the Baltics, has been the Amex network partner in the Baltics since 1995. Aivo took over the regional position on the Worldwide Advisory Board in 1996 from the CEO of the Amex representative partner agency in Finland.

The first and oldest private internet wholesale provider in Estonia, with the first private (non-public, non-academic) proprietary IP cable link from Tallinn to Europe. The company was born in Jan 1995 by the corporate spin-off of the famously innovative IT department of Estravel, the largest travel agency in the Baltic region both then and now. A few years later (Dec 1997), as the leading private IP provider in Estonia, Data Telecom was sold to a Dutch company EUnet International BV. Over the 3 decades, Data Telecom changed its name and owners several times (incl KpnQwest and LinxTelecom). The corporate legacy of Data Telecom is today successfully carried on by CITIC Telecom CPC Estonia OÜ.