LONDON – Latvian national carrier airBaltic is already a major operator of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft, and has just received their 37th and 38th aircraft of the type.

The deliveries

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.

The two newly delivered aircraft act as part of the fifty Airbus A220-300’s airBaltic ordered. The order of airBaltic also holds 30 options along with purchase right of the aircraft type.

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.

Great numbers for a great aircraft

So far this year, airBaltic has carried around 10.170.000 passengers on their Airbus A220-300 aicraft, totalling around 117.000 flights completed over 256.000 block hours.

With the Airbus A220-300 exceeding the company’s expectations in multiple aspects, the A220-300 also offers a remarkably good passenger experience, featuring wide and comfortable seats, an open and light cabin with terrific space for hand luggage, and huge windows.

AviationSource has previously flown airBaltic’s flagship A220, and you can find our thoughts and review here.

Multiple new routes this year

From the summer schedule announcement to new winter routes inaugurating, airBaltic has also recently shown off their Airbus A220’s range capabilities, with their new 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, airBaltic have readied up for the summer season 2023, 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