Air Baltic Looks Toward Significant Expansion Plans

As part of its ongoing expansion plan, Air Baltic has announced 13 new routes in 2020, from the capitals of the three Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. New services include Gothenburg, Hamburg and Zurich from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius as first reported by Simple Flying.

Martin Gauss, Air Baltic’s CEO, announced the new routes saying: “As we continue to grow, we aim to provide the best connectivity to and from all three Baltic capitals. When evaluating, which destinations to launch from the Baltic capitals, we are at first looking for the most demanded ones among the local passengers. Because of that, we provide additional contribution to local airports, offering new travel opportunities.”

The Baltic carrier will add flights from its home in Riga airport in Latvia to four destinations, including Manchester and Bergen in Norway to be operated between three and four times a week from March and April 2020. From Estonia’s capital of Tallinn, Air Baltic will launch four new routes as well,  including flights to Rome, Nice and Zurich to be operated two and three times a week.

Finally, from Vilnius in Lithuania, the airline will add five destinations including Hamburg and Dubrovnik to be operated between one and three times a week for next year’s summer season. With the new additions, Air Baltic will serve more than 95 destinations from the three Baltic states, with more than 70 destinations from Latvia, the carrier’s home.

Air Baltic operates a large fleet of 21 A220-300s in a single class all-economy configuration. The airline was the launch customer for the regional jet type, before it was acquired by Airbus from Bombardier. With up to 60 additional aircraft on order, the Baltic carrier plans to become an all A220 consumer once it phases out its remaining five Boeing 737-300s. To facilitate pilot training on the type, the airline inaugurated its own A220 simulator last week located in its home base in Riga airport and allowed AirlineGeeks to test it out.

Air Baltic also recently participated in the A220 tour, showcasing a frame around the pacific region to show the type’s advantages including greater cabin comfort, flexibility and lower fuel burn.

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Jose Antonio Payet

As a geography nerd, Jose has always been fascinated by the complexities of the airline industry and its ability to bring the world closer together. Born and raised in Peru, now studying in the UK. he has travelled around America, Europe and South East Asia. His favorite aircraft is the Boeing 767-300, which he has flown many times during his childhood; although now the A350 is slowly growing up on him.

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