Over the last two years, we have grown from a company with 250 employees, one operational base and 300 000 passengers to a company with 670 employees, 14 aircraft, two bases and over a million passengers this year. This growth in itself is a challenge. At times, our company has felt like a start-up venture, and fulfilling our goals has been a demanding task. We had to integrate over 400 professionals into the company, and we managed. Now we have to make a major effort to work with them, in order to further improve the standards of service that we provide. Despite the fact that we provide essentially an economic form of transport from A to B, a smile costs very little, but it shows commitment.

During the winter season, airlines do not open too many new destinations, because passenger numbers are generally lower. This winter, we have the additional challenge of very high fuel prices. Unfortunately, we will not offer a flight to Geneva this year. The flight we operated last year was profitable, but in view of the high charges at Geneva airport and the current fuel prices, it makes little sense for us. We are working on at least one more destination for the winter and of course a number of really exciting new routes for next spring. We have been increasing frequencies to Kiev and Odessa and we will  add  flights to Paris and Dublin.

Fuel prices have reached record levels and an airline needs a lot of fuel, despite more environmentally friendly engines. We are frequently asked whether airBaltic will also raise ticket prices, but there is no simple answer to that. We will of course try where we see a need, because we want to retain our profitability. But in view of competition, overcapacity and price sensitivity of most markets our possibilities to do so are very limited.

In short, we will work on service, more destinations, and you will enjoy also in the future fares at unprecedentedly low levels.

Enjoy you flight

Yours,
Bertolt Flick
President and CEO