Given the fact that airBaltic’s fleet is made up entirely of Airbus A220s, it seems
only fitting that we’re examining the airline’s fleet in 2022.
The only thing better would have been to publish this video on February 22nd!
But better late than never!
Despite the carrier having an extremely homogenous fleet of aircraft, there’s still a good
deal of interesting history and strategy surrounding the airline’s decision to go with this popular
little jet.
As such, let’s today take an in-depth look at the airBaltic fleet.
If you’re only now hearing about airBaltic for the first time, you’d be forgiven.
The airline hasn’t yet operated any transatlantic services to North America- even if all of
its current aircraft were built in Montreal and flew across the Atlantic to reach their
new home.
Historically, though, the carrier has had limited its operations to Europe, Central
Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
These days, the airline’s longest flights take it from Riga in Latvia to Tenerife in
the west, and Dubai in the east.
Both flights outbound currently take around six and a half hours while the flight back
from Dubai can take as long as seven and a half.
This wasn’t the case before February 2022.
However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent airspace bans have forced the carrier
to fly a longer route.
Normally, the airline’s A220s would have operated much of this flight through Russian
airspace.
These days, the aircraft must not only avoid Russia, but also Belarus and Ukraine.
While the airline has decided to axe its services to Armenia and Azerbaijan due to these developments,
other services are able to continue- something that airline CEO Martin Gauss attributes to
the fuel efficiency of the Airbus A220.
Here are some fo the things he had to say during an interview in March:
Therefore the higher fuel cost- our best offset against it is the Airbus A220-300 because
we have 25% less fuel burn this year than we had the years when we were using different
aircraft.
So it’s clear that airBaltic is happy with its fleet of Airbus A220s, but how did this
love affair begin?
And what growing pains did it experience along the way?
Let’s first look back at airBaltic’s pre-A220 years…
It was actually about a full decade ago that airBaltic signed a letter of intent for up
to 20 Bombardier CSeries aircraft.
This would see the airline acquire 10 CS300s and take purchase rights on a further 10 CS300
jetliners.
“As we look to replace the older aircraft in our fleet, matching the requirements of
our business plan, we reviewed the narrowbody platforms from the major airframers and determined
that the all-new CS300 aircraft was the best fit.”
airline CEO Martin Gauss said at the time.
The older aircraft Gauss was referring to consisted of Boeing 737-300s and 737-500s.
At the time of the announcement, some of these jets were around 20 years of age.
Due to the fact that the CSeries was still in development at the time and would not enter
service until 2017 with SWISS, it was important for airBaltic to have a modern replacement
lined up to take over for its aging 737s.
The July 2012 letter of intent would eventually turn into a firm order in December of the
same year.
At this point in time, the airline was expecting to receive its first CSeries aircraft in the
fourth quarter of 2015.
Speaking on the aircraft’s progress and his anticipation for a first delivery, this
is what airBaltic’s CEO had to say at the time:
We are currently limited with our aircraft to either 70 seats of 145 seats.
the CS300 will be replacing our older aircraft.
The cseries will be a game changer I'm sure because if you look at the cockpit, it's brand
new- all is new.
There's space in the cabin, there's widebody comfort.
Big overhead bins.
Efficient aircraft.
We're looking forward now to receive the CS300 as we would look to fly it and use it with
our passengers so we're really looking forward to it.
Along the way, the CSeries program faced delays, but airBaltic held on.
In November 2015, it was stated that the airline was expecting to take delivery of its first
CS300 in the second half of 2016.
By this point, the airline had adjusted its order, committing to a firm order for 13 and
retaining options for seven.
Months before the first CSeries entered service with airBaltic, the airline moved to exercise
its options for seven aircraft, converting them into firm orders alongside the existing
13.
The adjusted timeline for entry-into-service held true and airBaltic operated the first-ever
commercial flight of the CS300 as the variant’s global launch customer.
The successful December 2016 flight took 120 passengers from Riga to Amsterdam, paving
the way for more Bombardier aircraft to be delivered.
2017 would be the true test of the CS300’s ability to perform consistent and reliable
commercial service.
During this year, airBaltic flew the aircraft to European destinations like Amsterdam, Barcelona,
London and Paris, but also launched its longest direct service with the CS300, flying between
Riga and Abu Dhabi.
It was also in 2017 that the Latvian carrier set a new world record- its newest CS300 turnaround
for the first commercial flight took only 50 minutes after being delivered from Canada!
On its one-year anniversary of operations, the airline had taken delivery of seven of
the Bombardier jets.
Things were looking great for airBaltic.
But it was a different story on the other side of the world for the CS300’s designer
and producer, Bombardier.
The Canadian planemaker would be embroiled in a bitter dispute with Boeing after winning
a significant order from Delta Air Lines.
Accusing Bombardier of illegal trade practices, Boeing convinced the US Department of Commerce
to impose a 220% tax on every CSeries aircraft sold in the United States.
While the US International Trade Commission would eventually rule in Bombardier’s favor
and overturn the tariffs, the planemaker had already agreed to essentially give Airbus
a controlling stake in the CSeries program to ensure its survival.
Back in Europe, however, airBaltic was unaffected by the turmoil, seemingly doing well with
its handful of brand new Bombardier aircraft.
Seemingly thrilled with the results of its shiny new investments, the carrier moved to
order even more of the CSeries aircraft.
In May of 2018, the carrier made a firm purchase of 30 with options for an additional 30.
At the same time, the carrier made it clear that it wanted to go all-in on this aircraft,
and phase out other types that it was operating.
This would see airBaltic eventually phase out its use of the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400
turboprop- of which it had 12.
By the end of 2018, the airline would have 14 CS300s, and 22 by 2019.
Of course, by now, airBaltic would no longer be operating the Bombardier CSeries… this,
of course, would be due to Airbus taking a controlling stake in the aircraft program
in 2017 and rebranding the aircraft as the A220 less than a year later.
While airBaltic’s experience with the Airbus A220 has been fairly good - two years of steadily
operating the type would reveal issues with its next-generation Pratt and Whitney geared-turbofan
engines.
In October of 2019, SWISS grounded its entire fleet of Airbus A220 aircraft pending detailed
engine checks.
The Swiss carrier encountered a third serious engine issue in the space of four months and
thus decided that none of its A220 aircraft were to fly until detailed checks had been
undertaken.
With this disappointing news emerging, it was revealed that airBaltic had been experiencing
engine issues with its A220s as well.
Indeed, in its first two years of operating the type, the airline was reported to have
replaced 50 engines!
Having just 13 aircraft during that period, this meant that almost every engine was replaced
twice on average.
Of course, it’s more likely that the carrier’s older aircraft would have had more engine
changes, while newer aircraft would have had fewer.
The airline told SImple Flying that engine replacements were taking place due to a variety
of reasons, including planned and scheduled replacements.
airBaltic would go on to experience two public incidents concerning its A220 engines.
One took place in February of 2020 when a flight from Riga to Malaga had to divert to
Bordeaux due to an engine failure.
Then, in July 2021, an airBaltic A220 automatically shut down both engines immediately after making
contact with the runway.
While there were no injuries and the landing was performed safely, such an occurrence was
certainly a cause for concern.
Shortly after the first engine incident, however, the pandemic would take its toll on the aviation
industry, and airBaltic (like most other airlines) would be forced to ground most of its fleet
due to travel restrictions and a lack of passengers.
During this period, the carrier’s 12 Dash 8 turboprops would go into storage.
Two full years have passed and all of these aircraft remain in storage in Riga, unlikely
to ever fly for airBaltic again.
With industry recovery now well underway, the airline now has 33 A220-300s in its fleet
with another 17 yet to be delivered.
The all-A220 fleet’s average age now sits at about three years with its most recent
being delivered in February of 2022- at least at the time of this video’s production.
Three of the airline’s A220s sport fairly unique liveries apart from the standard lime
green and white.
These jets have been repainted in special liveries to reflect the unique DNA of airBaltic
and the Baltic nations- Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The first special-livery aircraft actually made its debut in 2018, when airBaltic unveiled
an aircraft featuring the flag of Latvia.
This was a gift from the airline to Latvia on the country’s centenary.
In addition to the design, the aircraft itself bears the name of Latvia’s capital city,
Riga.
The additional two aircraft sporting the flags of Estonia and Lithuania were unveiled during
a special event in August 2019 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way- which
was a record-long human chain that connected all three countries in August 1989 in a peaceful
demonstration for national independence.
In more recent news for airBaltic and its fleet, the carrier received approval in April
to increase the seating capacity on its A220-300 fleet to 149 passengers.
Having an initial capacity of 145 seats, this change in the certified maximum passenger
capacity means that the airline can unblock seats in its aircraft cabins that were, up
until now, unavailable for passenger usage.
At the moment, not all airBaltic A220s are flying for…airBaltic.
Indeed, SAS has recruited the airline and its jets to fly select European services on
its behalf.
The decision was prompted by the Scandinavian carrier suffering from crew shortages and
a potential strike from pilots over salary cuts.
Earlier in the year, two A220s were also wet-leased to German carrier Eurowings.
Commenting on these deals and the appeal of his carrier’s jets, CEO Martin Gauss said:
There's a very significant demand for A220 aircraft, especially the 300 version.
So I guess if tried we could lease out all of our fleet.
We had earmarked 15 aircraft, depending on the summer.
We gave out 11 now and that's it, we can't give out more.
But the aircraft and demand is not just coming from Europe, we have global demand and are
working on winter leads on different continents.
The aircraft is performing well if it's about the economics and it has 149 seats which means
the aircraft is usable if the route is not yet a route where you need a 220-seater.
So a 737-800, or A320, or A321.
I guess that a lot of the carriers now are looking for lift which is 150 seats but having
no restrictions on passenger comfort.
Any other aircraft comes with smaller cabins or different range.
The only aircraft available on the market is that aircraft and it comes with very positive
economics on the environment, on noise, and on fuel flow.
Apart from engine concerns, it appears that the A220 has been performing quite well for
airBaltic.
Given its exceptional fuel efficiency and its positive reputation for passenger comfort,
it looks like the airline’s big bet on the CS300- or A220- paid off handsomely.
But what do you think?
Did the airline take an acceptable level of risk in becoming so dependent on a single
aircraft type?
Share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment.