Latvian airline AirBaltic has unveiled an updated livery on its 21st Airbus A220-300, which is also overall the 100th Airbus A220 (formerly Bombardier C-Series) delivered to a customer.
The adjusted livery is the second update the airline has unveiled in three years when it received its first Airbus A220-300. Back then it added billboard titles and changed the gray engine cowlings to the current mint green. In the current update, the mint green tail is now extended onto the fuselage of the aircraft. A scheme also used by many other airlines. The first aircraft in the new livery, registered as YL-AAU, has a small sticker promoting the 100th A220 delivery on the right side of the fuselage.
AirBaltic has a further 29 A220-300 on order which will be delivered over the coming years and will replace the remaining Boeing 737-300, 737-500 and De Havilland Dash 8-400 (formerly the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400) in its fleet but will also be used for fleet expansion. Additionally, the carrier has options for another 30 of the new Airbus type. CEO Martin Gauss explained to International Flight Network at the Paris Air Show 2019, where AirBaltic also displayed one of its A220s, that these 30 additional aircraft could be used for expansion outside the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), but no deal has been finalized yet as such a fleet extension by the airline would first require additional investors.
Airbus took over the C-Series program from Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier in 2017 and rebranded the aircraft into the ‘Airbus A220’ in mid-2018. A total of six airlines have taken delivery of an A220 aircraft, these include AirBaltic, Air Tanzania, Delta Air Lines, EgyptAir Express, Korean Airlines and launch customer Swiss. With 29 deliveries, Swiss has the largest fleet of A220 in the world, closely followed by Delta Air Lines, which already operates 27 A220 despite being one of the newer customers. Air Canada is also expected to receive its first A220 in December, becoming the seventh airline to operate the type. Other notable customers that have the aircraft on order include Air France, Jetblue, and a new start-up airline in the US nicknamed “Moxy”.
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been interested in aviation ever since. His fields of expertise are aircraft accidents and passenger experience (PaxEx).
