Report on Business after hours with airBaltic, Monday, July 24, 17:00 – 19:00 (Riga time)
30.07.2017

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About 70 CanCham members and friends registered and were able to enjoy an interesting and informative business after hours at the airBaltic headquarters at the Riga International Airport.

Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic provided a short introduction of airBaltic and Horizon 2021, then introduced the audience to their regular management report where various aspects of the business are tracked, touching on such aspects as punctuality, cancelled flights and lost luggage where actually they are performing quite well. The main challenge seems to be meeting demand, while at the same time competing in an active market. This provided some interesting insight into airBaltic operations, the challenges they face and the successes they are experiencing. The strategy of implementing the Bombardier (jets manufactured in Canada) program with the newly introduced CS300 was reviewed. So far, six of 20 planes have been delivered, and there have been recent decisions to expand the program with Bombardier. Clearly, airBaltic has become the dominant regional airline.

airBaltic is the Latvian flag carrier and one of the world’s most punctual airlines connecting the Baltic region with more than 60 convenient destinations in Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and the CIS. The company was established in 1995.

airBaltic is a niche airline taking the best practice from both low cost airlines and traditional carriers with full business class service and has received numerous international awards for excellence, innovative services and achievements in reshaping its business. After an intense period of reorganization, airBaltic has now returned to a profitable growth path and has a bright outlook for what the future holds.

Last year, airBaltic was the first airline in the world to introduce the state of the art Bombardier CS300 aircraft manufactured in Canada and serves a growing family of customers - almost 3 million travellers in 2016. 2017 has started a very exciting and successful year for airBaltic as the number of passengers continues to grow and 13 new destinations have been added to the route map for better connectivity of the Baltic region.

We were then treated to a tour of the impressive and modern headquarters facility, as well refreshments to help effective networking.

We thank Didzis Rudmanis, Corporate Communications Representative and Alise Briede, Head of Corporate Communications and their staff for setting everything up for us, and Wolfgang Reuss, Senior Vice-President, Network Management for taking the initiative on behalf of airBaltic to make this event happen, and, of course, Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic for not only the great presentation and support of the CanCham, but for being instrumental in giving Latvia such a professional organization.

We can all be proud of airBaltic and it’s achievements.

For pictures, see www.facebook.com/canchamlatvia

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