Air Baltic to cut fleet to 36 aircraft and trim Tampere routes after €128.2m loss

Air Baltic posted a €128.2 million loss for January–June and is cutting routes from Tampere‑Pirkkala while planning major fleet and staff reductions, Aamulehti reported.

Revenue rose 14 percent to €399.2 million, but higher fuel bills and rising financing costs pushed the company deep into the red. It showed a negative equity of €309 million at the end of June and carries a €380 million secured bond with a 14.5 percent interest rate, maturing in 2029. The airline entered voluntary debt restructuring in September and has sought Chapter 11 protection in New York while outlining plans to shrink the fleet from 54 to 36 aircraft and cut roughly 700 jobs. Reuters reported on the restructuring, Aamulehti said.

Cost cuts include unusual measures. Thirty pilots will be seconded on year‑long contracts to Papua New Guinea's Air Niugini, and the airline will reduce in‑flight vomit bags to one for every three seats from October. The Latvian state, which owns nearly 90 percent of the airline, says it will not provide fresh budget support, and minority owner Lufthansa has declined to bail the carrier out. From Tampere‑Pirkkala, Air Baltic will next summer offer direct service only to Riga; the Malaga route was ended early and several winter onward connections from Riga have been dropped, including Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia. The Oulu–Riga link has also been discontinued.