Tag Archives: YL-BAE

airBaltic to resume operations to major cities, all Q400s remain grounded

airBaltic has made this announcement:

After receiving a special permission from the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Latvia, airBaltic will resume direct flights from Riga to Amsterdam on May 25, Hamburg on June 1, Vienna on June 8 and Dusseldorf on June 9.

The company will resume direct flights from Tallinn to Paris on June 1, Vienna on June 2 and Berlin on June 4.

The airline also plans to launch direct flights from Vilnius to Oslo on May 28, 2020.

Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic: “We provide the best connectivity to and from the Baltics. By June 9, we will connect Baltics with more than ten European destinations. By focusing on an all-Airbus A220-300 fleet, we are well positioned for the restart.”

Note: All 12 Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8s (Q400s) remain grounded and are not expected to return becoming an all A220 operator.

airBaltic decided to ground the Q400 fleet on March 16, 2020 due to the pandemic. For the record, YL-BBU operated the last revenue flight (BT318 TLL-RIX) on March 16.

Above Copyright Photo: airBaltic (airBaltic.com) Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) YL-BAE (msn 4289) ARN (Stefan Sjogren). Image: 905317.

Previously the company operated the last Boeing 737-300 revenue flight (flight BT405 KBP-RIX with YL-BBY) also on March 16, 2020.

“The safety and health of our passengers, our employees and the society stand above all. All of our passengers are now provided with a face mask and disinfectant wipes. Our new flight operations follow the recommendations issued by authorities,” Martin Gauss added.

On May 18, airBaltic has resumed flights from Riga to Tallinn and Vilnius. The airline is also performing daily special flights to Frankfurt and Oslo. airBaltic will also resume flights from Riga to Helsinki, Munich and Berlin.

airBaltic aircraft slide show:

Video:

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:

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).