airBaltic’s passenger numbers increased by 19 per cent in January

During this year the airline plans to add four more Airbus A220s (formerly the Bombardier CS300) to its fleet (airBaltic)

January proved to be a positive start of the year for Latvia’s airBaltic, which enjoyed an improved load factor of seven p.p.– a still not impressive 65 per cent – as the airline transported 311,000 passengers on 4,529 flights, just three more than in January 2019. Meanwhile, the 15-minute flight punctuality indicator for airBaltic reached a level of 93 per cent in January 2020.

“This year we will further improve the sustainability of our business,” stresses Martin Gauss, airBaltic’s chief executive. The region’s largest carrier plans to continue its expansion in the Baltics and will launch 14 new routes, including four new direct destinations from Tallinn, Estonia and five new destinations from Vilnius, Lithuania in 2019.

The Riga-based carrier’s fleet of 38 aircraft consists of 22 Airbus A220-300s, four Boeing 737s and 12 Bombardier Q400Next-Gen turboprops. During the year the airline plans to add four more Airbus A220s (formerly the Bombardier CS300).

Overall, airBaltic carried 5.05 million passengers last year, a 22 per cent year-on-year improvement and the highest number of passengers carried in the airline’s 24-year history. In 2019, the demand for ancillary services of the Latvian airline grew by 35 per cent, with the most popular added-value services being checked baggage, advanced seat reservations and pre-ordered meals. Also last year, it registered an 84 per cent increase in the number of mobile bookings, with 21 per cent of all reservations on the airBaltic website transacted on a mobile device.