The Government of the Republic of Latvia made a decision to tighten the security measures and suspend international air traffic starting on March 17 in order to limit the spread of Coronavirus. All airBaltic connections will be temporarily suspended starting on March 17 until April 14, 2020, inclusive, including operations of airBaltic from Estonia and Lithuania.
Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic: “The safety and health of our passengers, our employees and the society is above all!”
“airBaltic is working intensively to assist all passengers affected. Due to the amount of rebookings needed, we ask for understanding from our customers that we are doing our utmost to deal with this extraordinary situation,” Martin Gauss added.
In order to serve a large number of passengers willing to travel to and from Riga before international air traffic is suspended to Latvia on March 17, airBaltic has added additional flights on March 16.
Tickets for the additional flights will be able to be booked on the website of airBaltic. On March 16, airBaltic will perform the following flights:
Riga-London at 14:10 and London-Riga at 15:50;
Riga-Paris at 08:05 and Paris-Riga at 10:40;
Riga-Moscow at 07:45 and Moscow-Riga at 11:25;
Riga-Brussels at 14:50 and Brussels-Riga at 17:10;
Riga-Dublin at 08:00 and Dublin-Riga at 09:45;
Riga-Zurich at 07:55 and Zurich-Riga at 10:10;
Riga-Dusseldorf at 17:10 and Dusseldorf-Riga at 19:00;
Riga-Vienna at 17:35 and Vienna-Riga at 19:20.
In addition, nationals of the Republic of Latvia, as well as permanent residents of Latvia who wish to return after March 17, can fill a form on airBaltic website for potential repatriation flights.
All affected passengers will be contacted by sending them an e-mail. airBaltic customer service is continuing to receive an increased amount of calls and messages, so we kindly advise to contact airBaltic only if your flight was originally scheduled for the upcoming days. It will enable those, who were originally planned to have a flight coming up and need our attention most, to reach the company first. Latest information concerning the travel updates from airBaltic can be found on the company’s website.
airBaltic is currently working in a commercial crisis. Since February 28, an action group C19AG has been established at the company, which regularly evaluates the latest situation and takes the necessary measures during this extraordinary crisis.
Following the already announced staff reductions, airBaltic will in the upcoming days be in continued discussions with our staff and unions on details, how the new situation will affect the employment and future of our employees. the company is forced to further temporarily reduce the number of employees, mainly crew, by 100 people, summing up to 350 with the changes announced on March 11. The company will seek voluntary solutions, unpaid leave, non-extension of probation time and termination.
Martin Gauss, said: “Unfortunately the Coronavirus crisis is escalating. At the moment we are left with no choice – in these extraordinary times, we must take extraordinary measures, so that our company is ready to rebound once this global crisis is over. There is no question, that eventually the situation will improve and airBaltic will return to its growth strategy. I am grateful to our team and the Latvian people for supporting us in these difficult days.”
Martin Gauss, said: “Unfortunately the Coronavirus crisis is escalating. At the moment we are left with no choice – in these extraordinary times, we must take extraordinary measures, so that our company is ready to rebound once this global crisis is over. There is no question, that eventually the situation will improve and airBaltic will return to its growth strategy. I am grateful to our team and the Latvian people for supporting us in these difficult days.”
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