On October 2, 2021, Latvian airline airBaltic welcomed its 32nd Airbus A220-300 jet, registered as YL-ABF, in Riga. This is the seventh and final Airbus A220-300 aircraft delivery for airBaltic in 2021. This aircraft is a part of the 50 Airbus A220-300 which airBaltic has ordered. In addition, airBaltic holds 30 options and purchase rights for the same aircraft type.
Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “We are delighted that a total of seven Airbus A220-300 have joined our sustainable fleet this year. We are now the largest Airbus A220-300 operator in the world and the largest Airbus A220 operator in Europe. With a growing number of new aircraft, we will be able to provide better connectivity, as well as give our passengers the opportunity to visit their favourite leisure destinations during the winter season.”
Since introduction of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft in late 2016, airBaltic has carried over 6 505 932 passengers on the aircraft. Thus far, most passengers have been carried to such destinations as Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Moscow. Airbus A220-300’s have completed over 78 246 flights and flown over 175 312 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 the 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.
The Airbus A220-300 has a high-quality air filtering system equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) type filter that provides the best level of filtration currently available for recirculated cabin air from the very beginning of boarding, during entire flight and until all passengers have left the aircraft. The quality of cabin air is carefully controlled and is recirculated with ventilation rates that provide a total change of air 20-30 times per hour.
In addition, the new aircraft is also considerably quieter – with a four times smaller noise footprint. Moreover, at the moment it is the greenest commercial aircraft in the world, as it is the first aircraft to have a transparent declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact, helping to reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by 20% and 50% respectively.