AirBaltic

Early history

Baltic International Airlines (BIA) was a Latvian and US joint venture company owned by SIA Baltic International Airlines whose main airport was Riga International Airport. It was founded in June 1992, after the US-based private company Baltic International USA (BIUSA) failed to buy a part of the state-owned Latvian national airline Latavio. In the joint venture, the Latvian government owned 60%, while BIUSA owned 40%. After unsuccessful privatisation attempts, Latavio was declared insolvent in October 1995. It was liquidated and the Government of Latvia together with Baltic International Airlines created airBaltic.

The airline was established as Air Baltic on 28 August 1995 with the signing of a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and the Government of Latvia. Operations started on 1 October 1995 with the first Air Baltic aircraft, a Saab 340, in Riga, and that afternoon, the plane made the first passenger flight for Air Baltic.

In 1996, the airline's first Avro RJ70 was delivered; and Air Baltic joined the SAS frequent flyer club as a partner. In 1997, a cargo department was established and, in 1998, the airline's first Fokker 50 plane was delivered. The adopted livery was mainly white, with the name of the airline written in blue on the forward fuselage, the 'B' logo being heavily stylised in blue checks. The checker blue pattern was repeated on the aircraft tailfin.

In 1999, Air Baltic became a joint stock company; it was previously a limited liability company. All of the Saab 340s were replaced by Fokker 50s. In September, the airline began operating under the European Aviation Operating Standards, or JAR ops. Air Baltic welcomed the new millennium by introducing new uniforms and opening a cargo centre at Riga's airport.

The first Boeing 737-500 joined the fleet in 2003, and on 1 June 2004, Air Baltic launched services from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, initially to five destinations. In October 2004, Air Baltic was rebranded as airBaltic. Its present livery consists of an all-white fuselage and lime tailfin. airBaltic.com is displayed on the forward upper fuselage, and the word "Baltic" is repeated in blue on the lower part of the tailfin. In December 2006, the first Boeing 737-300 joined the fleet and was configured with winglets. In July 2007, airBaltic introduced an online check-in system, the first online check-in system in the Baltic states. In the spring of 2008, two long-haul Boeing 757s were added to the fleet. In 2010, the airline began leasing De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft, it retired these aircraft in 2023.

airBaltic had strong links with SAS, which owned 47.2% of the airline, and operated frequent flights to SAS hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. Some of airBaltic's products and services are still shared with SAS, including co-ordinated timetabling and shared airport lounges. airBaltic is not a member of any airline alliance but does have codeshare agreements in place with several Star Alliance member airlines and others.

airBaltic had secondary hubs at Vilnius Airport and Tallinn Airport. The majority of the routes commenced from Tallinn were cancelled shortly after opening, leading to complaints from the Estonian Consumer Protection Department.

In January 2009, SAS sold its entire stake in the company (47.2% of the airline) to Baltijas aviācijas sistēmas Ltd (BAS) for 14 million lats. BAS was wholly owned by Bertolt Flick (President and CEO) until December 2010, when 50% of BAS shares were transferred to Taurus Asset Management Fund Limited, registered in the Bahamas.

Development since 2010

In August 2011, airBaltic requested more than 60 million lats in capital as its losses continued to mount, and suffered speculation about its financial position and political scandals throughout 2011. In mid September 2011, the company announced plans to lay off around half its employees and cancel around 700 flights a month to avoid possible grounding. The company also announced that a mystery investor was willing to pay 9.6 million euros for an additional 59,110 shares. On 4 October 2011, the plans were annulled in order to make the necessary investments in the airline's capital. The government of Latvia and BAS agreed to invest around 100 million lats in the airline's share capital in proportion to their stakes in airBaltic. As part of the agreement its longtime president and CEO stepped down and Martin Gauss, former CEO of Hungarian airline Malév Hungarian Airlines, became the new CEO.

airBaltic had made an announcement on 23 September 2010 that it would establish a new secondary hub at Oulu Airport.

In early 2012, it was confirmed that Oulu hub plans were cancelled due to financial issues.