airBaltic farewells the last Bombardier Q400 of its fleet

The Latvian airline airBaltic announces that on February 1 it successfully concluded the redelivery process of its Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft back to the regional lessor Nordic Aviation Capital. Now, airBaltic operates a fully single-type fleet of 39 Airbus A220-300.

Martin Gauss, President and CEO of airBaltic: “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.”

“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. 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,” Gauss added.

The first Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft joined airBaltic back in 2010. Over the years, 12 different Bombardier Q400 NextGen have carried more than 11 million passengers in total and have performed over 222 thousand flights all across Europe.