airBaltic Welcomes Bombardier CSeries in Rīga

Yesterday the Latvian airline airBaltic welcomed a Bombardier CSeries aircraft to Rīga, Latvia, as part of CS100 demo tour to Northern Europe.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “Bombardier CSeries will be the backbone of our jet fleet beyond 2016. We are thrilled to have this CS100 in Riga for display.
Bombardier’s CS300 airliners are integral to the execution of airBaltic’s business development strategy Horizon 2021 and fleet optimization plan. As the airline increases its network potential, we will do so by replacing older jet aircraft.”

“We are very pleased to be working closely with airBaltic as it prepares to add the CS300 aircraft to its modern fleet of complementary Bombardier Q400 turboprops,” said Fred Cromer, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “airBaltic’s modern Bombardier fleet is an expression of its innovative strategy to provide state-of-the-art travel experiences to its passengers, and we wish the airline much success in the future.”

“Following our recent confirmation that airBaltic will be the first airline in the world to take delivery and launch commercial operations of the CS300 aircraft, we are delighted to be in Riga to showcase the C Series family of aircraft,” said Rob Dewar, Vice President, C Series Aircraft Program, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “As the main carrier in the Baltic region, and having chosen one of the optional extra capacity configurations for its CS300 aircraft, airBaltic is in an enviable position to illustrate and benefit from the C Series aircraft’s outstanding economics, performance and passenger amenities.”

Andris Liepiņš, Chairman of the the Board, Rīga International Airport: “Today Bombardier CS100 writes history as the youngest aircraft to land in the airport of the Latvian capital of Rīga.”

As announced previously, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft confirmed early November that Air Baltic Corporation AS (airBaltic) will be the first customer to operate the CS300 aircraft when it takes delivery in the second half of 2016. airBaltic has 13 CS300 aircraft on firm order and retains options for seven CS300 aircraft.

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these locations, airBaltic offers convenient connections via Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, CIS and the Middle East. In addition, airBaltic also offers new direct flights from Tallinn and Vilnius.