airBaltic unveils its 40th Airbus A220-300 aircraft in Latvian flag livery in Canada

airBaltic together with Airbus unveiled its 40thA220-300 aircraft in a livery of the Latvian flag colours, honouring the great, long-standing collaboration ties between Latvia and Canada. airBaltic’s 40th A220-300 aircraft, registered as YL-ABN, is planned to join the airline’s fleet in early April 2023 with a special event also held in Riga, Latvia, to celebrate this milestone. This will be the second A220-300 in the airline’s fleet with a special Latvian flag livery.

Martin Gauss, President and CEO of airBaltic, commented: “More than six years ago, airBaltic became the global launch operator of the A220-300 aircraft. Over the years, the aircraft type has grown to be the backbone of our operations, and we continue to be a proud ambassador of it. These years have shown a great collaboration and friendship between us as the national airline of Latvia and our partners in Canada, therefore we are glad to be here today, celebrating this aircraft and all the work we have done together. It is an incredible pride and honour to have this aircraft be a part of our growing fleet of A220-300s.”

Rob Dewar, Senior Vice President, Customer Satisfaction, Services, and A220 Product Policy at Airbus Canada, said: "The unveiling of airBaltic's 40th A220-300, which will be proudly flying in the colours of the Latvian flag, is an important moment for us all at Airbus Canada. This aircraft symbolises a long-standing collaboration and continued partnership with airBaltic as we are pursuing our shared journey to bring passengers the most sustainable and comfortable flying experience. The A220 has reached over 1 million flight hours and connected more than 70 million passengers thus far.”

Thus far, airBaltic has carried nearly 11 000 000 passengers on the Airbus A220-300 aircraft. Airbus A220-300s of the airline have completed more than 126 000 flights and flown over 275 000 block hours.

Since May 2020, airBaltic operates all its flights with a single aircraft type – Airbus A220-300 – thus minimizing the complexity and benefiting from the additional efficiency provided by the aircraft.

The Airbus A220-300 has performed beyond the company’s expectations, delivering better overall performance, fuel efficiency and convenience for both passengers and staff. This aircraft offers an excellent flying experience with such benefits for passengers as wider seats, larger windows, more hand luggage space in the cabin, improved lavatories and much more.

In addition, the aircraft is also considerably quieter – with a noise footprint area up to 50% smaller than previous generation aircraft. Moreover, at the moment, the A220 has the world's smallest single-aisle carbon footprint, helping to reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by 25% and 50%, respectively. It was also the first aircraft to have a transparent declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact.