Tag Archives: Riga

airBaltic now has 13 Bombardier CS300 jetliners on order

Bombardier Aerospace announced today that Air Baltic Corporation AS (airBaltic) (Riga) is the previously announced undisclosed customer that had converted three option aircraft to firm on the original order contract in February 2014. The original order for 10 firm airliners with options for 10 more was finalized on December 20, 2012.

Based on the list price of the CS300 airliner, the three firm aircraft order is valued at approximately $228 million US.

Airbaltic now has 13 Bombardier CS300s on order.

Established in 1995, airBaltic is the main carrier in the Baltic region and operates direct flights out of Riga, Latvia and serves 60 destinations spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East with a fleet of 25 aircraft.

Image: Bombardier.

airBaltic:

Wizz Air to open a new base in Riga, Latvia

Wizz Air (Hungary) (Budapest) has announced the opening of its 17th base in Riga, Latvia. Wizz Air is initially deploying one Airbus A320 aircraft and opening 4 new routes from Riga to Barcelona, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dortmund and Beauvais (near Paris).

Wizz Air is not only adding new flights from Riga, but also increasing the frequencies on the existing services to London (Luton) and Torp (near Oslo). Wizz Air is now offering 8 routes to 6 different countries from the Latvian capital. The airline believes its expansion in Riga can stimulate the local job market in aviation and the tourism sector with more visitors now able to travel to Latvia on its low fare services.

Wizz Air on May 19, 2014 celebrated its 10 year anniversary of its first flight from Katowice in southern Poland to London (Luton) on May 19, 2004. The low fare airline now operates a fleet of 52 Airbus A320 aircraft on 300 routes from 18 bases, connecting 96 destinations across 35 countries. It transported over 13.9 million passengers in the financial year ending on March 31, 2014.

In addition, Wizz Air on October 26, 2014 is expanding service from Bucharest, Romania with the launch of two weekly flights to Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg and Nuremberg.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 HA-LPK (msn 3143) lands at EuroAirport serving the Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg area.

Wizz Air (Hungary):

Routes from Rigia, Latvia:

Brussels Airlines to extend its network to Riga, Latvia

Brussels Airlines (Brussels) on October 26 will start flights between Brussels Airport and Riga. The capital of Latvia will be connected to the European capital with six flights per week to Riga International Airport, all in the afternoon.

The flights will be operated in collaboration with codeshare partner airBaltic.

The new route will be operated with Avro (BAe) RJ100 aircraft.

Brussels Airlines:

airBaltic to drop service to Istanbul (Sabiha Gokcen) and Kaliningrad

airBaltic (airBaltic.com) (Riga) is dropping its two routes to Istanbul (Sabiha Gokcen) and Kaliningrad on May 27 per Airline Route.

The airBaltic fleet currently consists of three aircraft types – 5 Boeing 737-500s, 8 Boeing 737-300s and 12 Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) NextGen turboprops, in total – 25 aircraft. The company hopes to replace the Boeing 737 fleet with new Bombardier CS300 aircraft which has been delayed.

airBaltic:

AirBaltic returns to the black with a net profit of $1.39 million for 2013

AirBaltic (stylized as airBaltic) (Riga) has also returned to the black. The Latvia carrier achieved a net profit of 1 million euro ($1.39 million) for the full year of 2013. AirBaltic has surpassed its original plans and has turned around the FY 2012 loss of EUR -27 million, converting it into a net profit of 1 million euro for 2013. AirBaltic has achieved profitability one year ahead of the initial schedule.

AirBaltic achieved 5% better yields and 1% of unit revenue improvements over the twelve months of 2013 (RASK – revenue per available seat kilometer), when compared to the same period a year ago, and generated stable revenues of EUR 325 million, despite capacity reductions.

AirBaltic serves sixty destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia.

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. The Boeing 737s will be phased out and replaced reportedly by 2017 by the new Bombardier CS300s assuming the latter can unravel its testing and production issues. Boeing 737-522 YL-BBN (msn 26683) in the special “Official Carrier of Latvia Team for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics” taxies at Zurich.

airBaltic:

airBaltic to launch a new route from Riga to Bucharest, Romania on June 3

airBaltic (Riga) on June 3, 2014, will launch a new route between Riga, Latvia and the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

airBaltic will fly from Riga to Bucharest four times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Passengers will board a Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) NextGen aircraft for a flight that will last for 2 hours 55 minutes.

Top Copyright Photo: Tony Storck/AirlinersGallery.com. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) YL-BAX (msn 4324) departs from Berlin (Tegel).

airBaltic:

Bottom Copyright Photo: airBaltic.