SmartLynx increases the number of operated flights by a third

Latvia’s ACMI and charter carrier’s fleet has grown to 24 Airbus A320-family aircraft (SmartLynx)

SmartLynx Airlines, the Latvian charter airline and ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) services provider, increased the number of flights operated in the first nine months of this year by a third.

In the July-September 2019 period, SmartLynx operated a total of 9,388 flights, compared to 7,091 in the same period last year. In the period, the number of ACMI block-hours reached 27,704, a 51 per cent improvement year-on-year.

Antalya (Turkey), Burgas (Bulgaria) and Heraklion (Greece) became the most popular destinations for passengers from the airline’s main base at Riga, while from Estonian capital Tallinn, from where charter services are also provided, Burgas, Heraklion and Varna (also Bulgaria) became the top-three popular destinations.

“Taking into account the growing demand for SmartLynx Airlines’ services, we have expanded our fleet to 24 aircraft. Currently, we operate with 16 Airbus A320s and eight Airbus A321s,” reveals Zygimantas Surintas, the chief executive of SmartLynx. This is significantly up from last year’s 14 aircraft.

The company is also pressing ahead with a series of projects aimed at expanding and improving its performance and customer service levels. SmartLynx has integrated the Skywise data platform and has now put it into daily operations. A co-product of aviation giant Airbus and software company Palantir Technologies, the platform gathers and models all related information in a single system, providing an accurate and unified view of the processes involved in fulfilling the services.