airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hist ...
of
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
, with its head office on the grounds of
Riga International Airport in
Mārupe municipality near
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...
. Its main
hub is Riga, and it operates bases in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
,
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...
and
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...
.
History
Early history
Baltic International Airlines (BIA) was a Latvian and US joint venture company owned by SIA Baltic International Airlines whose main airport was Riga International Airport . It was founded in June 1992, after the US-based private company Baltic International USA (BIUSA) failed to buy a part of the state-owned Latvian national airline
Latavio
Latavio (Latvian Airlines) was an airline based in Riga International Airport (RIX), Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1992, after emerging from Aeroflot. The fleet generally consisted of Soviet-made Aeroflot airplanes. AirBaltic replaced it as t ...
. In the joint venture, the Latvian government owned 60%, while BIUSA owned 40% of the property. After unsuccessful privatization attempts, Latavio was declared insolvent from October 1995. It was liquidated and the Latvian government together with the Latvian-US joint stock company Baltic International Airlines created a new national airline airBaltic.
The airline was established as Air Baltic on 28 August 1995 with the signing of a joint venture between
Scandinavian Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmar ...
(SAS) and the Latvian state. Operations started on 1 October 1995 with the arrival of the first Air Baltic aircraft, a
Saab 340, at Riga, and that afternoon, the plane made the first passenger flight for Air Baltic.
In 1996, the airline's first
Avro RJ70 was delivered; and Air Baltic joined the SAS frequent flier club as a partner. 1997 saw the opening of a cargo department and, in 1998, the airline's first
Fokker 50
The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...
plane was delivered. The adopted
livery
A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...
was mainly white, with the name of the airline written in blue on the forward
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
, the 'B' logo being heavily stylized in blue checks. The checker blue pattern was repeated on the aircraft
tailfin.
In 1999, airBaltic became a
joint stock company; it was previously a
limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the United States of America, US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the Flow-through entity, pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole p ...
.
[Company history]
" AirBaltic. Retrieved on 22 November 2011. All of their Saab 340s were replaced by Fokker 50s. By September, the airline had begun operating under the European Aviation Operating Standards, or JAR ops. Air Baltic welcomed the new millennium by introducing new uniforms and opening a cargo centre at Riga's airport.
The first
Boeing 737-500 joined the fleet in 2003, and on 1 June 2004, Air Baltic launched services from the Lithuanian capital,
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...
, initially to five destinations. In October 2004, Air Baltic was rebranded as AirBaltic. Their present livery consists of an all-white fuselage and
lime tailfin. AirBaltic.com is displayed on the forward upper fuselage, and the word "Baltic" is repeated in blue on the lower part of the tailfin. In December 2006, the first Boeing 737-300 joined the fleet and was configured with
winglet
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
s. In July 2007, AirBaltic introduced an online check-in system. It was the first online check-in system in the Baltic states. In the spring of 2008, two long-haul
Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978.
The prototype completed its maid ...
s joined the existing AirBaltic fleet. On 10 March 2008, it was announced that in the next three years the airline would acquire new aircraft, experiencing the largest fleet expansion in the company's history. The new additions will be next generation
De Havilland Dash 8-400 aircraft.
AirBaltic had strong links with SAS, which owned 47.2% of the airline, and operated frequent flights to SAS hubs in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
and
Stockholm. Some of AirBaltic's products and services are still shared with SAS, including co-ordinated timetabling and shared airport lounges. AirBaltic is not a member of any
airline alliance
An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within ...
but does have codeshare agreements in place with several
Star Alliance
Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its CEO is Jeffrey Goh and its headquarters is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. , Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenger ...
member airlines and others.
AirBaltic had secondary hubs at
Vilnius Airport
Vilnius Airport ( lt, Vilniaus oro uostas) is the international airport of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is located south of the city. It is the largest of the three commercial airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic. With one runwa ...
and
Tallinn Airport.
The majority of the routes commenced from Tallinn were cancelled shortly after opening, leading to complaints from the Estonian Consumer Protection Department.
In January 2009, SAS sold its entire stake in the company (47.2% of the airline) to Baltijas aviācijas sistēmas Ltd (BAS) for 14 million
lats Lats or LATS may refer to:
* Latissimus dorsi muscle
* Latvian lats, former currency of Latvia
* Latin American Test Symposium of test and fault tolerance technologists
* Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, a UK scheme to reduce biodegradable waste ...
. BAS was wholly owned by
Bertolt Flick
Bertolt Martin Flick (born 1964, Germany) is a Germans, German businessman, the former president and CEO of airBaltic airline.
He has a law degree from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
In 1995, Flick became a member of airBaltic's superv ...
(President and CEO) until December 2010, when 50% of BAS shares were transferred to Taurus Asset Management Fund Limited, registered in the Bahamas.
Development since 2010
In August 2011, AirBaltic requested more than 60 million lats in capital as its losses continued to mount, and suffered speculation about its financial position and political scandals throughout 2011. In mid-September 2011, the company announced plans to lay off around half its employees and cancel around 700 flights a month to avoid possible grounding. The company also announced that a mystery investor was willing to pay 9.6 million euros for an additional 59,110 shares. On 4 October 2011, the plans were annulled in order to make the necessary investments in the airline's capital. The government of Latvia and BAS agreed to invest around 100 million lats in the airline's share capital in proportion to their stakes in AirBaltic. In connection with the agreement, Flick stepped down as long-term President and CEO of the airline. Martin Gauss, former CEO of Hungarian airline
Malév, became the new CEO.
AirBaltic had made an announcement on 23 September 2010 that it would establish a new secondary hub at
Oulu Airport,
but in early 2012 it was confirmed that the Oulu hub plans had been cancelled due to AirBaltic's financial problems.
The cost-cutting program, initiated by AirBaltic which aims to return to profitability in 2014, scored better than planned results in 2012, by narrowing its losses to €27.2 million, from €121.5 in 2011.
The state's shareholding had been 99.8% since 30 November 2011, following the collapse of a bank linked with a finance package negotiated for the airline, but on 6 November 2015 it was reported that the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers had approved plans to sell 20% of airBaltic to German investor Ralf Dieter Montag-Girmes for €52 million and agreed to invest a further €80 million in the airline. The total of €132 million of fresh capital for the carrier is intended to spur its Horizon 2021 business plan and fleet modernisation. Following the closure of
Air Lituanica
Air Lituanica was a Lithuanian airline headquartered in Vilnius and based at Vilnius Airport. It ceased operations in .
History
Air Lituanica was registered in late . It was named after '' Lituanica'', an aircraft commanded by Steponas Dariu ...
and
Estonian Air respectively in June and November 2015, it is alongside
Nordica, one of two flag carriers in the
Baltic countries
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
.
The
Bombardier CS300 delivery was much anticipated by airBaltic since this new aircraft type was originally planned to replace most of the airline's Boeing 737-300s and Boeing 737-500s and now will replace all by 2020. The delivery of the CS300 happened on 29 November 2016, at 2 am ET. On 28 November, Bombardier and airBaltic held a ceremony in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada for the first delivery of the CS300. At 1:30 am, shortly before the scheduled departure, an oil leak from an engine was spotted. It delayed the departure, but at 2:23 am ET, the aircraft was now airBaltic's property. On board the inaugural flight, there were 18 people, including 6 pilots: 3 from Bombardier, and 3 from airBaltic. At 4:13 am ET, after a delay of over 2 hours, flight BT9801 took off en route to Stockholm. The airline received two CS300 in 2016 and expects to receive six in 2017, eight in 2018 and four more in 2020.
AirBaltic was looking for opportunities to replace its
Q400
The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...
turboprop fleet, and Bombardier and
Embraer
Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, whe ...
were viewed as potential future aircraft suppliers, with possible deliveries of 14 new aircraft beginning in 2020.
On 26 September 2017, AirBaltic announced it would buy at least 14 additional
CSeries aircraft from Bombardier before the end of 2018; it planned to switch to an all-CSeries fleet by the early 2020s. Additional orders by AirBaltic were announced by Bombardier on 28 May 2018 and included 30 CS300 with options and purchase rights for a further 30 CS300.
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...
purchased a 50.01% majority stake in the CSeries program in October 2017, with the deal closing in July 2018; the aircraft family was subsequently renamed the
Airbus A220
The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries.
The program was ...
.
AirBaltic temporarily suspended operations on 17 March 2020 due to the
coronavirus pandemic,
and flights only restarted on a limited basis from 18 May 2020.
On 14 December 2021, AirBaltic announced that its first secondary hub outside of the Baltic countries will be founded in
Tampere Airport in May 2022.
In October 2022, AirBaltic launched a
NFT
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the b ...
collection with benefits for the airBaltic Club loyalty programme.
Corporate affairs
The current head office at Riga Airport opened in 2016.
Ownership
airBaltic is a
joint-stock company
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...
, with current shareholders (as of April 2021):
Business trends
The airline's full accounts have not always been published regularly; figures disclosed by AirBaltic via various publications are shown below (for years ending 31 December):
Destinations
airBaltic operates direct year-round and seasonal short-haul flights from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, mostly to metropolitan and leisure destinations within Europe. Though they do not operate long-haul flights, they codeshare with partners in all three
airline alliances to allow through-ticketed long-haul flights.
Codeshare agreements
airBaltic has
codeshare agreement
A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...
s with the following airlines:
*
Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines S.A. ( el, Αερογραμμές Αιγαίου Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία ''Aeroporía Aigaíou Anónimi Etairía'', ) is the flag carrier airline of Greece and the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carri ...
*
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airl ...
*
Air Malta
Air Malta plc (stylized as airmalta) is the flag carrier airline of Malta, with its headquarters in Luqa and its hub at Malta International Airport. It operates services to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
History
...
*
Air Serbia
Air Serbia (stylised as ''AirSERBIA''; sr, / ) is the flag carrier of Serbia. The company's headquarters is located in Belgrade, Serbia, and its main hub is Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The airline was known as Jat Airways until it was ...
*
Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its ...
*
Azerbaijan Airlines
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
*
Belavia
*
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.
The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...
*
Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and cre ...
*
Cyprus Airways
*
Czech Airlines
Czech Airlines j.s.c. (abbreviation: ČSA, cz, České Aerolinie, a.s.) is the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Its head office is located in the Vokovice area of Prague's 6th district and its hub is Václav Havel Airport Prague. The comp ...
*
Emirates
*
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways ( ar, شَرِكَة ٱلْاِتِّحَاد لِلطَّيْرَان, sharikat al-ittiḥād li-ṭ-ṭayarān) is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalif ...
*
Georgian Airways
*
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a la ...
*
Icelandair
Icelandair is the flag carrier airline of Iceland, with its corporate head office on the property of Reykjavík Airport in the capital city Reykjavik.
Linked from here
It is part of the Icelandair Group and operates to destinations on both si ...
*
ITA Airways
Italia Trasporto Aereo S.p.A., trading as ITA Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Italy. It is fully owned by the Government of Italy via the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The airline flies to over 60 scheduled domestic, ...
*
KLM
*
LOT Polish Airlines
LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (corporation), S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of List of airlines by foundat ...
*
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...
*
Scandinavian Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmar ...
*
TAP Air Portugal
*
TAROM
*
Ukraine International Airlines
Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, often shortened to UIA ( uk, Авіакомпанія Міжнародні Авіалінії України, Aviakompaniya Mizhnarodni Avialiniyi Ukrayiny, ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of ...
*
Uzbekistan Airways
Fleet
Current fleet
, the airBaltic fleet consists of a single aircraft type:
Historical fleet
Livery
The original livery was painted on Avro RJ70s and had a white fuselage. The original airBaltic colour scheme, blue and white, was painted on the engines and the vertical stabiliser. The second-generation livery also had a lime green wingtip and vertical stabiliser; however the logo was changed to airBaltic.com and the word airBaltic was painted on the engines, which were in their original metallic colour.
Until December 2019, the livery consisted of a white fuselage and lime green vertical stabiliser, wingtips and engines. In December 2019, the rear fuselage below the vertical stabilizer was also painted in lime green, with the tail cone remained white. The logo, stylised 'airBaltic', is painted in dark blue on the fuselage across the windows and on the underside of the aircraft. This livery is mainly used on A220s.
In order to represent the three Baltic states, three of the A220s have been painted in a series of national flag liveries - one each for
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...
and
Lithuania.
[
]
Services
Frequent-flyer programme
The airline's frequent flyer programme is called airBaltic Club. Travellers can earn 'pins' and collect stamps while travelling and receive various rewards. There are three levels: Club level, Executive level and VIP level, each with different reward structures. Previously the airline used the SAS EuroBonus EuroBonus is the frequent flyer program of Scandinavian Airlines and Widerøe. It was launched by SAS in 1992.
Airline partners
SAS Group
* Scandinavian Airlines
Star Alliance partner airlines
* Aegean Airlines
* Air Canada
* Air China
* Air I ...
frequent flyer programme,
In-flight services
On most flights, airBaltic offers a buy on board
Buy may refer to a trade, i.e., an exchange of goods and services via bartering or a monetary purchase.
The term may also refer to:
Places
*Buy (inhabited locality), any of several inhabited localities in Russia
* Burlington-Alamance Regional Ai ...
menu offering food and drinks for purchase.
Accidents
* A drunk airBaltic crew including a co-pilot at seven times legal alcohol limit stopped by the police in Oslo before a flight in 2015. The second officer was sentenced to six months' jail while the captain and flight attendants also faced proceedings after a tip-off stopped them from taking charge of flight from Norway.
* On 17 September 2016, an airBaltic de Havilland Dash 8-400, registered YL-BAI, performing flight BT-641, landed at Riga without its nose gear due to problems with the nose gear.
* On 6 December 2017, due to heavy winds and a slippery surface, an airBaltic Boeing 737-500 slid off a taxiway after landing in Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport.
*On 3 December 2021, due to heavy snowfall, an airBaltic Airbus A220-300 (YL-CSE) slid off the runway after the landing at Riga Airport from Stockholm (flight BT102).The Latvian airline airBaltic confirms that on December 3, 2021 during a heavy snowfall its flight BT102 from Stockholm to Riga performed with Airbus A220-300 YL-CSE aircraft slid off the runway after the landing at Riga Airport.
/ref>
References
External links
*
**
Interview With CEO Of airBaltic Martin Gauss
{{DEFAULTSORT:Airbaltic
Airlines of Latvia
Airlines established in 1995
Latvian brands
Association of European Airlines
Airlines for Europe
Companies based in Riga
European Regions Airline Association
Government-owned airlines
SAS Group
Articles which contain graphical timelines
Latvian companies established in 1995