airBaltic’s A220-300 fleet grows to 12 aircraft

Most popular A220 flights are to Moscow, Amsterdam, Paris, London and Barcelona (airBaltic)

On its way to reaching a total of 14 Airbus A220-300 aircraft in its fleet by the end of 2018, Latvian hybrid airline airBaltic has taken delivery of its twelfth A220-300 jet, registered as YL-CSN.

Thus far, airBaltic has carried more than 1.6 million passengers on the A220-300 (formerly the Bombardier CSeries 300) aircraft, meaning that every third airBaltic passenger has used the aircraft. Airbus A220-300s have completed more than 15,000 flights and flown over 41,000 block hours.

Since the launch of operations on December 14, 2016, airBaltic’s A220-300s have been to 35 countries and landed at 70 airports. Most often, airBaltic flies its A220-300s to Moscow, Amsterdam, Paris, London and Barcelona.

The Riga-based carrier has launched an improved cabin, with new seats on its latest three A220-300 aircraft. All airBaltic aircraft of the type will eventually offer the improved cabin.

In late May, airBaltic announced a long-term firm purchase agreement for 30 of the aircraft, with options for an additional 30. The order complements the existing order of 20 A220-300s and forms the backbone of airBaltic’s future business.

The airline, which serves more than 70 destinations from the Baltic countries’ three capital cities of Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, is a joint stock company established in 1995. For the summer of 2019, airBaltic is introducing three new destinations: from Tallinn to Malaga, Brussels and Copenhagen. In addition, next summer airBaltic is to launch a new direct route connecting Riga with Stuttgart.

airBaltic’s primary shareholder is the Latvian state, which holds 80.05 per cent of the stock, while Danish businessman Lars Thuesen holds around 20 per cent of the airline, whose fleet consists of 35 aircraft: Bombardier CS300s, Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400NG turpobrops.