airBaltic bids farewell to final Bombardier Q400 to operate Airbus only fleet

airBaltic has bid farewell to the final Bombardier Q400 in its fleet and will solely operate using the Airbus A220-300.

The Latvian airline confirmed on February 1, 2023, that it has successfully concluded the redelivery process of its NextGen turboprop aircraft back to the regional lessor Nordic Aviation Capital.

Martin Gauss, president and CEO of airBaltic praised the Bombardier Q400 for enabling the airline to “get where we are today” but expressed his “delight” for the future with the Airbus A220-300.

The first Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft joined airBaltic back in 2010 with a further 11 joining the fleet over the following years.

“The last redelivery flight marks an official end to our previous stage of development. Q400, definitely, was an excellent-performance aircraft, which at the time helped us to get where we are today – flying the most efficient and greenest fleet in Europe,” Gauss said.

airBaltic confirmed its Bombardier aircraft have carried more than 11 million passengers and performed over 222,000 flights across Europe.

According to airBaltic the Airbus A220-300 has “a transparent declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact, helping to reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by 20% and 50% respectively.”

In its latest order the airline ordered 30 Airbus A220-300 and has options for an additional 30 aircraft of the same type.

“Although a smaller plane allows more flexibility occasionally, still a single-type fleet has significant advantages – both economic and technical (maintenance), and also in terms of sustainability and training,” the CEO said.

He added: “We are thankful to Bombardier for service; it was a journey that is recorded in our history. Now we are looking forward and are delighted, how Airbus A220-300 has transformed our airline, becoming one of the core and very valuable assets of the company.”