Summary
- airBaltic received its forty seventh A220 and first delivery of 2024.
- The A220 aircraft has been successful for airBaltic, with over 14 million passengers served and impressive efficiency.
- Operating solely A220s for nearly 4 years has proven successful for airBaltic, offering eco-friendly travel.
airBaltic has inducted its forty seventh Airbus A220 aircraft – the airline welcomed YL-ABU in Riga on February thirteenth, which was its first delivery of the 12 months. The carrier recently announced a brand new order with Airbus that would take its fleet to 100 A220s.
airBaltic receives forty seventh A220
The Latvian flag carrier bolstered its all-A220 fleet with the arrival of YL-ABU. Data from Flightradar24 shows the plane arrived in Riga at 23:10 local time on Tuesday, and has since conducted multiple short hops between Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn.
The plane is number 47 of an order for 50 placed with Airbus – nonetheless, the carrier is more likely to double the dimensions of its fleet following an order for 30 A220s and 20 more options placed on the Dubai Airshow 2023 in November, operating 100 of the jets by 2030.
The carrier capped off 2023 with the delivery of its forty sixth A220 (registration: YL-ABT) in late December. As per data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, airBaltic’s fleet has a mean age of just 3.5 years, giving the airline one among the youngest and best fleets in Europe.
Over 14 million passengers
airBaltic’s A220-300s have now served over 14,478,000 passengers – the kind has now accomplished 160,000 flight cycles and flown greater than 352,000 block hours under the Latvian airline.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
airBaltic said,
January saw airBaltic start the 12 months with impressive figures, carrying over 287,000 passengers for the month, a 16% increase year-on-year. Over 2023, the airline handled around 4.5 million passengers, which was a substantial 36% improvement on 2022’s total. airBaltic now operates over 130 routes from its bases in Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Tampere.
Almost 4 years of all-A220 operations
It’s approaching 4 years ago that airBaltic began operating with only a single aircraft type – the A220. Nonetheless, the airline has been flying the Airbus-made narrowbody for longer than that, having passed the seven-year mark last December. airBaltic’s first industrial service with the A220 took place on December 14, 2016, but it surely would not shift to all-A220 operations until May 2020.
![Several airBaltic aircraft parked side by side.](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/airbaltic-aircraft-21-2.jpg)
Wow: airBaltic Has Now Been Operating the Airbus A220-300 For 7 Years
Since its introduction in 2016, airBaltic has carried almost 450,000 passengers on its Airbus A220s.
The efficiencies of operating a single aircraft type have proven airBaltic’s technique to be an efficient one, and the aircraft itself offers a powerful 25% less CO2 and 50% reduction in noise emissions.
Have you ever ever flown on one among airBaltic’s Airbus A220-300s? How did you discover the experience? Tell us within the comment section.