Summary
- airBaltic’s seasonal base at Las Palmas Gran Canaria Airport is now operational, with flights to 10 destinations across the Baltic States and Scandinavia.
- The bottom will host two Airbus A220-300 aircraft, which provide lower operating costs and are easier to fill in the course of the winter season.
- airBaltic plans to double its fleet size with an extra 50 Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
airBaltic’s seasonal base at Las Palmas Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), Spain, is now operational, with the Latvian airline kicking off flights from its base on the Spanish island on December 1, 2023. In total, the carrier plans to fly to 10 destinations across the Baltic States and Scandinavia from the bottom.
Seasonal base
The bottom will host two Airbus A220-300 aircraft. A June 2023 statement, which also announced that ticket sales on flights from/to LPA had begun, said that airBaltic would connect LPA to nine latest destinations in Northern Europe. Flights between Riga Airport (RIX) and LPA began on October 23, 2023. Other cities served from the bottom include Aalborg, Billund, Copenhagen, Denmark, Oslo, Norway, Tampere, Finland, Tallinn, Estonia, and Vilnius, Lithuania, with flights starting on December 1, 2023.
Chatting with AeroTime in August 2023, Martin Gauss, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of airBaltic, emphasized that the bottom would only be operational in the course of the winter, as larger aircraft can be higher suited to serve LPA in the course of the peak summer season. Still, the airline’s 149-seat configuration, combined with much lower operating costs in comparison with the larger Airbus A320neo or Boeing 737 MAX families, has provided airBaltic with a chance to expand its horizons in the course of the lower demand season.
Photo: Karolis Kavolelis | Shutterstock
On the time, Gauss remarked that the airline had already seen promising booking numbers for its routes from/to LPA. Nevertheless, it noted that the backbone of the carrier’s business model stays providing connectivity from the Baltic States and Scandinavia.
The CEO also noted that the lower-density Airbus A220s are much easier to fill in the course of the winter, which is why airBaltic can compete with incumbent airlines, comparable to SAS or Norwegian, which use the larger Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 aircraft. Consequently, the Latvian airline is capable of compete with lower ticket prices while still maintaining a business-class product that provides higher yields and an improved passenger experience to those booking the more premium seats.
airBaltic Airbus A220-300 Flight Review: Tallinn To Vilnius
Reviewing the short, one-hour flight between two Baltic capitals onboard the Airbus A220-300.
Doubling its fleet size
Gauss has hinted such additional bases could appear on the airline’s network in the longer term. In any case, the airline has ordered an extra 50 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, 20 of that are options, in the course of the Dubai Airshow 2023. Currently, airBaltic operates 45 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, with the most recent jet arriving at RIX on November 21, 2023. Its first aircraft of the sort, then often called the Bombardier CSeries CS300, arrived in November 2016.
Photo: StockPhotosLV | Shutterstock
Since, the Latvian carrier made the choice to transition to change into an all-Airbus A220-300 operator in April 2020. Its last De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q400 left RIX in January 2023, in accordance with ch-aviation data. airBaltic has invited people to design the livery of its upcoming fiftieth Airbus A220-300. Together with a €3,000 ($3,265) gift card, the winner may even see their design appear on the single-aisle jet, which should arrive within the airline’s fleet sometime in 2024.
airBaltic Wants You To Design The Livery Of Its fiftieth Airbus A220
Artists from any country can enter for a probability to win a €3,000 prize, and the winning design will probably be displayed across the carrier’s network.