newstodate.aero

Aug 23, 2021 (newstodate): The Latvian carrier airBaltic continues to stockpile its fleet of Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
   On August 21, 2021, the carrier thus took delivery of its fourth of the seven aircraft poised for delivery in 2021, and now has 29 aircraft in the fleet.
   The aircraft first lifted off on July 29, 2021, and has been flying alongside the company's 5th Airbus A220-300 that started its flight test program on August 11, 2021, due for delivery in September, and thus leaving only two more aircraft to be added in 2021.
   While there is thus no shortage of aircraft capacity, traffic still has a long way to go before airBaltic is back on pre-Covid levels.
   In June 2021, the airline did see its passenger volumes rising 90 percent, y-o-y, but still carried 79 percent less passengers than before Covid-19, in June 2019.
    The Latvian carrier airBaltic is therefore again seeking state support to compensate losses caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and to support overcoming the economic crisis.
   Pending EU Commission's green lights, the Latvian state will inject a further EUR 90 million into the equity of airBaltic, planned to be returned to the Latvian state in form of proceeds from selling shares during a planned initial public offering of airBaltic in the future.
   In April 2020, the Latvian state also decided to bolster airBaltic's capital base with the injection of EUR 150 million in an effort to support the carrier in the economic crisis, and according to airBaltic the equity received in 2020 has been used to maintain the company’s operations and cover expenses that could not have been avoided due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
   Later, in May 2020, the Baltic government also agreed to inject 250 mio euro in the carrier as added share-holding capital, and not a loan which would have required approval from the EU Commission.