airBaltic (BT, Riga) has accelerated the retirement of its B737 fleet by one year, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Martin Gauss has announced.
In a statement, Gauss said the Latvian carrier was eager to expedit its transition to an all-A220 fleet given the cost efficiencies that would bring. It currently operates fourteen A220-330s.
"The introduction of A220-300 has been very successful and provided the additional efficiency any airline is seeking in the highly competitive aviation market. Thanks to the good overall performance we took a decision to introduce a single type fleet of up to 80 (50 firm order and 30 options) Airbus A220-300 aircraft by 2022," he said.
As such, airBaltic will retire its six B737-300s and two B737-500s in autumn 2019, one year sooner than originally planned.
Last year, Gauss told ch-aviation that the airline would phase out its fleet of twelve Dash 8-400s as they come off lease. Overall, the type should be withdrawn come early 2023.
