OREANDA-NEWS. August 29, 2014. Latvian airline airBaltic has achieved a net profit of EUR +14 million for the first half of 2014. airBaltic has turned around the Jan-Jun 2013 loss of EUR -12 million, converting it into a net profit of EUR +14 million for the same period in 2014, despite new challenges in the eastern markets.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “The geopolitical turbulence in the East creates a very challenging market environment for airBaltic, where we see our transfer passenger numbers going down. Despite this, we have achieved significant cost savings through capacity management, cost controls, and efficiency gains as we now enjoy the benefits of our modernised, more uniform fleet of two aircraft types. In addition to our operational improvements, we have managed to restructure our past obligations towards Latvijas Krajbanka. The positive result we have achieved will help us adapt further to the market conditions, and improve our point-to-point product for the winter season.”

Due to declining demand, airBaltic reduced capacity and discontinued flights to Odessa, Simferopol and Kaliningrad in the first half of 2014. airBaltic also recorded lower yields caused by a double digit decline in transfer yields, while point-to-point yields demonstrated an upward trend. The share of point-to-point passengers improved and now stands at 52%, compared to 50% in the Jan-Jun period of 2013. 

airBaltic serves sixty destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. airBaltic offers convenient connections via Riga to its network which spans Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, the CIS, and the Middle East. For summer 2014, airBaltic has introduced six new destinations - Burgas and Varna (Bulgaria), Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Bucharest (Romania), Gothenburg (Sweden), and Aberdeen (Scotland, within the UK).