newstodate.aero

Sep 22, 2021 (newstodate): The Latvian carrier airBaltic plans to call back most of its cockpit and cabin crew members made redundant during the Covid-19 period.
   The airline will thus recruit 120 pilots and 200 cabin crew members by summer 2022, primarily among former staff.
   The rehiring process will start this autumn and will proceed in stages until the beginning of summer 2022.  
   Overall, airBaltic currently employs 1,366 people, including 200 pilots and 342 cabin crew.
   The injection of fresh manpower will accompany the sustained influx of new Airbus A220-300 aircraft in the fleet that will comprise 32 units by the end of this year - with only one delivery out of seven in 2021 still pending, while the aircraft is now amid its flight test mode.
   In 2022, airBaltic will receive a further eight Airbus A220-300 aircraft, bringing the fleet to 40 aircraft as part of the follow-up order for 50 aircraft, after which the airline still holds options for a further 30 aircraft with Airbus.
   Not that the massive intake of aircraft capacity is warranted by today's aviation market; according to the airline's CEO, Martin Gauss, speaking at a recent online event hosted by CAPA-Centre for Aviation, airBaltic does not expect to be back to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
   -We are planning for 2022 as a year when we will still be below 2019-levels, Mr Gauss said.
   The carrier, therefore, does not expect a full recovery until 2023 - at the earliest.
   Pending this, and in an effort to compensate for the loss of hi-revenue business passengers, the airline is keen to generate revenues by exploiting the seasonal markets for leisure travels by low-fare passengers, wet-lease contracts, and ACMI projects.