Latvia’s Finance Minister Evika Siliņa buys her country into national airline AirBaltic for EUR 136 million. The parliament of the country agreed to this on 2 May.
ALthough Siliņa denies it is a bail-out. AirBaltic is growing and plans to make its IPO on the stock market at the end of 2024. Passenger numbers are up by 20%, while the turnover increased by 26% in one year. On the downside: AirBaltic lacked funds to pay back a loan of EUR 200 million.
In November, AirBaltic announced the purchase of 30 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, with options on another 20. With the order the fleet is planned to expand to a 100 aircraft of the type, making it the largest A220-300 operator in the world. In 2023 AirBaltic reported about EUR 34 million in profit. | © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com