25.01.2021 - 07:53 UTC
airBaltic (BT, Riga) plans to build a new hangar at Riga to maintain its fleet of twenty-five A220-300s, the airline announced.
Construction of the hangar is to start in 2022 and finish by the end of 2023, following a building rights agreement with Riga Airport signed in 2020.
According to initial plans, the portion of land earmarked for construction is 2.85 hectares. The hangar will span over 34,500 square metres. It will be able to provide simultaneous line- and base maintenance for seven A220-300s, and its services will be offered to other A220-300 operators. The project will be financed through commercial banks, according to a statement by the airline.
Owned 96.14% by the Latvian state with 3.86% by Lars Thuesen through his who4lly-owned Aircraft Leasing 1 SIA, airBaltic was the launch customer of the A220-300. It owns eight of the aircraft, while seventeen are on lease, from amongst others, Avation,FPG Amentum, Chorus Aviation Capital, and CMB Financial Leasing.
In 2019, it was certified to provide...
07.01.2021 - 14:07 UTC
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14.12.2020 - 04:35 UTC
The Estonian government has confirmed that it will inject EUR22 million euros (USD27 million) into the share capital of flag carrier Nordica (ND, Tallinn Lennart Meri) and will additionally transfer a loan of EUR8 million (USD10 million), economy minister Taavi Aas revealed at a press conference.
Aas said he had received authorisation from the government to provide the Covid-combating state aid, which already has the blessing of the European Commission. The package will be formalised once discussions on acquiring LOT Polish Airlines’ 49% stake in Nordica’s ACMI/charter subsidiary Xfly (EE, Tallinn Lennart Meri) have concluded.
He said at the December 3 news briefing, as quoted by bne IntelliNews: “As a result of a discussion in the cabinet today, the specifications will be clarified and I very much hope that an additional session of the government will take place [soon] in which the allocation of funds will be decided.”
He added: “Nordica has found a niche and is offering strong competition with its presence. With this support, it can recover better and stronger.”...
01.12.2020 - 23:33 UTC
airBaltic (BT, Riga) has submitted a solution to Latvia’s Ministry of Transport to recover the EUR250 million euros (USD299 million) the state has invested in the company’s equity, chief executive Martin Gauss has told the news agency LETA. The proposal envisages an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange and possibly a dual listing.
“We have submitted information on how we propose to do this to the ministry, and the ministry will then submit this to the Cabinet of Ministers. As we already know, we’ve offered to start listing airBaltic’s shares. However, the earliest this could take place would be the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023,” he said in the November 27 interview.
The overall aim of the IPO would be for the state to recover at least the amount that it invested, but the airline may encourage the government to seek to raise EUR500 million (USD597 million) in the offering, Gauss said.
“It would be premature to give specific figures because we have not even attracted banks...
