Latvian national airline airBaltic is preparing to meet demand in the summer season of 2023 with the announcement that it will wet-lease four additional aircraft short-term.
To support its operations, a partnership with the leading narrow-body ACMI and charter operator Avion Express has been established, effectively adding the Airbus A320-232 aircraft equipped with 180 seats to the fleet of airBaltic.
Leased aircraft placement
In total, two of the aircraft will operate out of the Riga base, starting from March 26 to October 28, while one will be based in Vilnius and another in Tallinn, from May 1 to October 28.
Speaking on the lease arrangement and strategic partnership, Martin Gauss, President and CEO of airBaltic said: “Although the challenges, caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine is still being felt, the aviation industry is gradually stabilizing.”
“As a result, passenger demand for air travel is increasing. At the same time, the industry as a whole continues to face technical parts supply chain issues, which means we need additional capacity to carry all passengers, avoiding flight cancellations.”
“Therefore, this summer airBaltic will be cooperating with Avion Express, which aircraft offer even more seats, thus allowing us to carry greater amount of passengers.”
Prior to the partnership agreement, airBaltic has conducted full volume technical and quality inspections of all the aircraft to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Aircraft configurations
The wet-leased aircraft will be available in two configurations, with burgundy red leather seats and blue textile seats.
The onboard ambiance will feature airBaltic-branded white headrest covers, Baltic Outlook inflight magazine, and the airline’s safety cards.
Furthermore, the crew of Avion Express has been instructed to detail, in order to ensure the same high standard of service as airBaltic.
The Airbus A320-232 aircraft of Avion Express (registration numbers: 9H-AMI, 9H-AMK, 9H-MLY, 9H-MLX) have been manufactured in the period from 2008 to 2011.
About Avion Express
Avion Express is the leading narrow-body ACMI and charter operator operating an Airbus A320 family aircraft.
Working in the field for over 18 years, have established a long-term partnership with clients in Europe and are also operating in Africa, Asia-Pacific, South America.
Avion Express is a family member of Avia Solutions Group, a leading aerospace services group with what has become almost 100 offices and production facilities worldwide.
About airBaltic
airBaltic is a joint stock company that was established in 1995. Its primary shareholder is the Latvian state, which holds 97.97% of the stock, while the rest of the shareholders hold 2.03%.
The Latvian flag carrier currently operates flights to more than 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Tampere, offering connections to a wide range of destinations in the airline’s route network in Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East.
The wet-leased Airbus A320 aircraft will join the carrier’s fleet of 39 Airbus A220-300 aircraft for the short term.
airBaltic has received numerous international awards for excellence and innovative services. Skytrax has awarded Latvian airline airBaltic a five–star COVID-19 safety rating.
In addition, airBaltic is one of the Top twenty airlines for COVID-19 compliance by the safety, product, and COVID-19 rating agency Airlineratings.com.
In 2018 and 2019 airBaltic received the ATW Airline Industry Achievement Award as the Market Leader of the Year. In addition, in 2019 airBaltic received Sector Leadership Award by Airline Business.
