Latvian airline airBaltic celebrated its 30 years of flying on October 01, 2025 in Helsinki with a flight between Riga, Latvia and Helsinki, Finland. airBaltic started its first commercial flight on October 01,2025 from Riga, Latvia to Stockholm, Sweden.
airBaltic in aviation
The Latvian state and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) joined hands and founded airBaltic on 28 August, 1995. Though it was founded on August its first commercial flight took place on October.
airBaltic started its first commercial flight with a 33-seat Saab SF-340 aircraft from its home base Riga, Latvia. After 30 years the airline is connecting the Baltic states to 80 destinations across Europe and beyond.
In these 30 years airBaltic has carried more than 65 million passengers and flown over one million flights. The airline has transitioned to a single-type fleet of Airbus A220-300 from its phased out turbo-props and older equipment.
The airline welcomed its 50th Airbus A220-300 on February 2025 with a ‘Baltic themed’ livery. They also become the first airline to offer high-speed in-flight internet with the help of SpaceX’s Starlink.
Celebrating 30 years of flying
To celebrate its 30 years of flying, airBaltic has flown a special flight BT101 from Riga to Stockholm using Airbus A220-300 fleet painted in a Latvian flag coloured livery.
They also staged a live choir performance in the flight and became the first carrier in Europe to stream the in flight choir performance.
airBaltic has also launched a website to remember their staffs and passengers. To mark its 30 years in aviation they shared their staffs and passengers personal stories in a name ’30 stories for 30 years’.
Mantas Vrubliauskas, VP Network Management at airBaltic said,
“Over the past three decades, our flights between both capitals have strengthened ties between Latvia and Finland for both business and leisure travel, contributing to the growth of both economies. Finland is one of our largest markets, and we aim to continue expanding in the country while providing reliable connectivity. We would like to express our gratitude to our long-term partner Finavia for their cooperation over the years and for supporting airBaltic’s growth.”
In the moment of celebrating its 30 years airBaltic is ready to welcome their new CEO, Erno Hilden who is all set to take reign from its interim/current CEO Pauls Calitis.
Have you travelled in airBaltic? Share us your experience of airBaltic in the comments.
