Air Baltic ekspanderer med CS300 - AIN

Air Baltic Signs for 30 More Bombardier CS300s

by Gregory Polek

 - May 29, 2018, 10:08 AM

Bombardier’s C Series orderbook swelled to more than 400 airplanes with Monday’s signing of a new firm purchase agreement with Latvia’s Air Baltic calling for delivery of at least another 30 CS300s. The deal also includes options for 15 CS300s and rights to purchase 15 more, potentially raising its value to $5.9 billion. The contract calls for first deliveries in the fourth quarter of next year, after Air Baltic takes the remaining 12 airplanes from its launch order for 20.

The order increases Air Baltic’s order backlog to 50 CS300s, making it the largest European C Series customer and the second largest in the world. Now flying eight of the Canadian-built narrowbodies, Air Baltic recently hatched a business plan relying on significant route expansion from all three Baltic countries: Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

“As an early adopter of the C Series, we took a forward-looking decision on advanced technology to support our turnaround plan leading to sustainable profitability, and today we are benefiting from the most fuel-efficient small single-aisle aircraft,” said Air Baltic CEO Martin Gauss. “We successfully executed our fleet modernization strategy, and are excited to further grow our fleet up to 80 CS300 aircraft while phasing out our other aircraft types in the next three years.”