The 36th Airbus A220-300 aircraft, designated as YL-ABJ, has been delivered to Latvian flag airline airBaltic. This is the fourth of eight A220-300 aircraft scheduled to be delivered in 2022.
According to airBaltic, the Airbus A220-300 aircraft has carried nearly 8 million passengers and performed over 92 000 flights.
The airline plans to have 50 A220-300s in service by 2024. AirBaltic also has the option of purchasing an additional 30 A220-300 jets. The airline is now the largest operator of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft in the world.
After being forced to halt operations in Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing war, airBaltic announced in mid-April 2022 that it will wet-lease a number of its A220s to other airlines for the summer of 2022.
Greetings to the newest addition to our fleet – YL-ABJ! 👏 This morning we accepted our 36th @Airbus A220-300 jet. This is the fourth of eight planned Airbus aircraft deliveries for us this year. pic.twitter.com/I1xEbft3kH
— airBaltic (@airBaltic) May 28, 2022
Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) and Eurowings have previously inked contracts for nine A220s to be leased on an ACMI basis by airBaltic. AirBaltic is also negotiating wet-lease agreements for two other aircraft that have been released from Ukrainian and Russian destinations.
The Latvian carrier announced in early May 2022 that it has leased a Boeing 737-900ER aircraft from Ukraine International Airlines on an ACMI basis (UIA).
Since May 1, 2022, the Boeing 737-900ER has been in service. Due to the “effect created by global supply chain concerns,” the decision to wet-lease additional aircraft was made.
“It is now a very challenging time for the Ukrainian people and their national airline,” Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic said. “By temporarily wet-leasing their aircraft, we are also providing short-term work to the employees of Ukraine International Airlines.”
