airBaltic Takes Delivery of 34th Airbus A220neo

Latvia's national carrier, airBaltic (BT), has received its 34th A220-300. BT is currently the world’s largest operator of the type.

DALLAS - Latvia's national carrier, airBaltic (BT), has received its 34th A220-300. BT is currently the world’s largest operator of the type.

YL-ABH is the second of eight A220-300 planes scheduled for delivery to BT in 2022. The airline anticipates having 50 A220s by 2024. Furthermore, the carrier has the option to purchase an additional 30 A220 jets.

Currently, the Airbus A220 is the greenest commercial aircraft in the world, as it is the first aircraft to have a transparent declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact, helping to reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by 20% and 50% respectively.

airBaltic YL-CSA Airbus A220-300. Photo: Tony Bordelais/Airways

Wet-leasing Part of Its A220 Fleet

After being forced to halt operations in Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing war, BT announced on April 14 that it would wet-lease 11 of its A220s to other airlines for the summer of 2022.

The Latvian airline has already inked contracts for nine A220s to be leased to Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) and Eurowings on an ACMI basis. BT is also in the midst of signing wet-lease agreements for two other aircraft that have been released from Ukrainian and Russian destinations.

Featured image: airBaltic A220-300 YL-ABH. Photo: airBaltic via Twitter

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