Tag Archives: 4289

airBaltic to replace Air Lituanica at Vilnius

airBaltic (Riga) has announced it will be filling the void left by the closure of Air Lituanica (Vilnius) with six new routes starting on September 3. The airline issued this statement:

airBaltic will replace Air Lituanica flights and rescue the stranded passengers, affected by today’s suspension of operations of the Lithuanian carrier.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer: “Our home market for airBaltic is Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. We will consolidate and strengthen our service in our home market by offering more direct flights. We announce the first direct routes out of Vilnius to Western and Northern Europe and will evaluate additional ones gradually. We will rescue the stranded passengers in the first days following the suspension of flights, and will offer special rescue fares for customers booked for flights later in the summer.”

The routes to be operated:

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia.

Copyright Photo below: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. airBaltic currently uses the pictured Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) for the current routes from Vilnius to both Amsterdam and Riga. YL-BAE (msn 4289) departs from Stockholm (Arlanda).

airBaltic aircraft slide show:

airBaltic turns itself around, achieves a profit

airBaltic (airBaltic.com) (Riga) has been successful in turning around the fortunes of the company by achieving a profit through its reorganization program. The airline issued the following statement:

“In July 2012, Latvian airline airBaltic reported a profit, as summer travel peaks and airBaltic ReShape restructuring programme gathers pace.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “We are delighted to see that airBaltic ReShape restructuring program brings consistently better net results every month. We are very satisfied to achieve a net profit of LVL 1.4 million.”

In July 2012, airBaltic operated 4,520 flights, or 19% less than in July 2011 when airBaltic operated 5,590 flights.

The airline carried 322,430 passengers in July. During the first seven months of 2012, airBaltic transported a total of 1,732,920 passengers.

The airline’s load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of available seats, was stable high at a level of 80% in July 2012, compared to the same month a year ago. The airline’s load factor for the first seven months of 2012 was at a level of 73%, unchanged compared to the same period last year.

The 15-minute flight punctuality indicator for airBaltic was at a level of 89.5% in July 2012. This means that 89 of every 100 airBaltic flights in July departed at the planned time or with a delay of no more than 15 minutes.”

	July ’12
Number of flights	4 520
Number of passengers	322 430
Load Factor	80%
	January-July ’12
Number of flights	28 270
Number of passengers	1 732 920
Load factor	73%

Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren. Part of the success has been the transition to more fuel efficient aircraft and dropping unprofitable routes. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) YL-BAE (msn 4289) climbs away from Stockholm (Arlanda) bound for the Riga hub.

airBaltic Slide Show:

Frameable Color Prints and Posters:

The first Q400 for airBaltic heads to the Singapore Air Show

Copyright Photo: Malcolm Bezzina. DHC-8-402 C-FZGL (msn 4289) passed through Malta en route to Singapore for the Singapore Air Show. It will become YL-BAE on delivery.

airBaltic (airBalti.com) (Riga) is taking delivery of its first (of eight) Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400). The Q400s will replace the Fokker F.27 Mk. 050s (Fokker 50s).