LONDON – As recently announced by the Latvian carrier airBaltic, the airline has taken delivery of their 39th flagship aircraft, the Airbus A220-300.
The latest addition arrived on December 31, barely a month after welcoming A220 number 37 and 38 into the fleet earlier this December.
The delivery
Announced by airBaltic on January 2, the Latvian carrier took delivery of their latest and 39th fleet addition registered YL-ABM, an Airbus A220-300. The new delivery marked itself as the 7th and last A220 delivery to airBaltic in 2022.
The aircraft becomes the 39th of the fifty Airbus A220-300s that airBaltic ordered. Additional to this order, they hold the option for 30 more, along with the purchase right on the type.
The 37th and 38th
On December 2, the Latvian national airline airBaltic took delivery of two new Airbus A220-300 aircraft, marking the 37th and 38th aircraft of the type inducted into the fleet.
The airframes registered YL-ABK and YL-ABL both made their entry to the airBaltic fleet after a mere 7.5-hours flight time from the Montreal Mirabel Int’l Airport (YMX), where the A220’s delivery center is.
A few years back, airBaltic opted for the Airbus A220 aircraft as a replacement for their Bombardier Dash 8-Q400’s and ageing Boeing 737 Classic series aircraft.
The aircraft which was then called the Bombardier CS300, was a part of the C-Series by Bombardier, which we today know as the A220-100 and A220-300.
airBaltic’s A220 success
So far, airBaltic has proven their success with the Airbus A220 aircraft, as it remains the only aircraft type in the fleet after they shipped out the Bombardier Q400s and Boeing 737 Classics.
airBaltic has thus far flown 10,500,000 passengers aboard the Airbus A220 fleet, which is estimated to have covered more than 120,000 flights
As stated by airBaltic, “The Airbus A220-300 has performed beyond the company’s expectations, delivering better overall performance, fuel efficiency and convenience for both passengers and the staff.”
“This aircraft offers an excellent flying experience with such benefits for passengers as wider seats, larger windows, more hand luggage space in the cabin, improved lavatories and much more.”
airBaltic’s 2023 Summer network
From the summer schedule announcement in 2022 to new winter routes inaugurating, airBaltic has also shown off their Airbus A220’s range capabilities, with their winter destination of Gran Canaria, which launched on November 2, 2022.
The new route serves as the second flight airBaltic operates to the Canary Islands, in addition to their Tenerife service.
The new service connecting the two destinations, is a part of airBaltic’s extensive winter schedule, which they announced earlier this year. The scheduled flight to Gran Canaria is just one of the routes that got inaugurated as a part of their winter programme.
Although winter is here and 2022 is now past, airBaltic have readied up for the summer season this year, announcing multiple new routes from Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn.
The summer 2023 schedule for airBaltic will contain flights to 70 destinations from Riga (RIX), and to the 18 new routes from across the Baltics. Ten routes will originate from Riga (RIX), four from Tallinn (TLL) and four from Vilnius (VNO).
The summer program will start at the end of March 2023, with the new flights being:
- From Riga (RIX)
- Istanbul (IST) – 4 flights weekly
- Hannover (HAJ) – 2 flights weekly
- Bucharest (OTP) – 3 flights weekly
- Porto (OPO) – 2 flights weekly
- Burgas (BOJ) – 2 flights weekly
- Bilbao (BIO) – 2 flights weekly
- Tivat (TIV) – 2 flights weekly
- Yerevan (EVN) – 2 flights weekly
- Belgrade (BEG) – 2 flights weekly
- Baku (GYD) – 2 flights weekly
- From Tallinn (TLL)
- Split (SPU) – 2 flights weekly
- Rhodes (RHO) – 2 flights weekly
- Dubrovnik (DBV) – 2 flights weekly
- Heraklion (HER) – 2 flights weekly
- From Vilnius (VNO)
- Malaga (AGP) – 2 flights weekly
- Palma de Mallorca (PMI) – 2 flights weekly
- Nice (NCE) – 2 flights weekly
- Heraklion (HER) – 2 flights weekly
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