Latvia’s airBaltic performs the world’s first A220-300 in-house C-check

The airline is planning heavy checks on six more A220s during this winter season (airBaltic)

Latvian hybrid airline airBaltic has completed its first scheduled C-check on an Airbus A220-300 aircraft and such checks on six more of the type are to follow during this current winter season.

Two months ago, the Riga-based carrier became the first airline to obtain a comprehensive MRO approval for the type, with line maintenance and base maintenance certification for it a logical step for the airline which is the launch operator of the type with 20 A220s already in its fleet in its transition towards a single type Airbus A220-300 fleet in the near future.

Andris Vaivads, senior vice-president of technical operations of airBaltic, notes: “After carrying more than 400,000 passengers, our first Airbus A220-300, registered as YL-CSA, has now successfully undergone a scheduled C-check and received a number of other modifications which are necessary to further improve the reliability of the aircraft. During the winter season, we plan to perform C-checks on six more Air-bus A220-300 aircraft.”

The C-check is a vital part of an aircraft maintenance programme that has to be per-formed on all commercial aircraft after a specified usage period. For the Airbus A220-300 (formerly the Bombardier CS300), the manufacturer has declared that a C-check has to be performed every 8,500 flight-hours.

During the first three quarters of 2019, the Latvian flag carrier transported a total of 3.87 million passengers, 22 per cent more than last year.

Its fleet currently consists of 40 aircraft: 20 Airbus A220-300s, eight Boeing 737s and 12 Bombardier Q400 Next Gen turboprops.