Air Baltic Accelerates 737 Retirement

February 20, 2019

Latvia-based Air Baltic will phase out its remaining Boeing 737s early as it moves to an Airbus A220-300 jet fleet.

Air Baltic Airbus A220-300

The airline originally planned to phase out its remaining six 737-300s and two -500s in 2020, but now plans to complete its switch to the A220 during the third quarter this year.

Chief executive Martin Gauss said “The Airbus A220-300 is the aircraft of our future and, by phasing out the Boeing 737, we will have the youngest jet fleet in Europe.”

Air Baltic has received 14 of its order of 50 A220-300s, with an additional eight joining its fleet during 2019. It removed three 737-500s from service late last year.

“The introduction of Airbus A220-300 has been very successful and provided the additional efficiency any airline is seeking in the highly competitive aviation market," Gauss said. "Thanks to the good overall performance we took a decision to introduce a single type fleet of up to 80 (50 firm order and 30 options) Airbus A220-300 aircraft by 2022.”

AirBaltic serves over 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, and plans to add another five this year, including Dublin, Stuttgart and Lviv.