airBaltic's last Bombardier Q400
The Latvian airline airBaltic said goodbye to its final Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop earlier this week when the company returned the aircraft to regional lessor Nordic Aviation Capital.
The final airBaltic Q400 left the airline on 1st February and marks the move towards a single aircraft type airline, with now 39 Airbus A220-300s in its fleet.
Martin Gauss, President and CEO of airBaltic: “The last redelivery flight marks an official end to our previous stage of development. Q400, definitely, was an excellent-performance aircraft, which at the time helped us to get where we are today – flying the most efficient and greenest fleet in Europe.”
“Although a smaller plane allows more flexibility occasionally, still a single-type fleet has significant advantages – both economic and technical (maintenance), and also in terms of sustainability and training. We are thankful to Bombardier for service; it was a journey that is recorded in our history. Now we are looking forward and are delighted, how Airbus A220-300 has transformed our airline, becoming one of the core and very valuable assets of the company,” Gauss added.
The first Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft joined airBaltic back in 2010. Over the years, 12 different Bombardier Q400 NextGen have carried more than 11 million passengers in total and have performed over 222 thousand flights all across the Europe.
