airBatic wrote to its customers outlining its future – and there’s some pretty interesting things in the communication. Let’s have a look.
airBaltic Airbus A220-300 – Image, Airbus.
For the airline, its three-weeks have been on the ground, with no date when the scheduled service is due to be resumed.
The airline has had to make cuts, with 700 employees being removed – leafing it with more than a 1000 employees on its book.
Unsurprisingly, the airline expects it will not be able to resume operations with the same schedule as before.
As for operations once this is all over? It will feature initially five Airbus A220-300 aircraft, with one added per week as demand begins to return. As for the Boeing 737 and Bombardier/De Havilland Q400 fleet – those types are being sidelined and grounded – in favour of a single fleet of A220-300 aircraft.
A sight you won’t see in the future – airBaltic Boeing 737 – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
airBaltic still has up to 80 A220-300 aircraft on order, and the airline will try to negotiate an optimum delivery schedule to support its future growth.
In terms of return to service, demand is expected to return, wit the aim to connect the Baltics up first, the eventually grow back to their previous levels. However, the airline won’t promise what flights it will restart this year.
It will, however, operate direct flights from Riga, as well as Tallinn and Vilnius.
Normality is a long way away.
The airline is doing its bit – with it delivering PPE, operating repatriation flights and so on – but this is hardly “business as usual” at this time, rather “life-support”.
However, they seem to have planned out a way back into operating once things return to normal…
… but for now, normal is a long way away for everyone…
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