Avation to lease four more A220s to airBaltic
Avation
110.00p
16:55 24/04/24
Commercial passenger aircraft leasing company Avation confirmed on Tuesday that it had been selected by airBaltic for the sale and leaseback of four additional new Airbus A220-300 aircraft, for delivery in the first half of 2019.
Industrial Transportation
4,181.31
17:09 24/04/24
The London-listed firm said it signed 12-year operating leases on the aircraft.
It described airBaltic as a “hybrid airline”, offering low fares across a route network of more than 70 destinations in Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East.
AirBaltic's fleet currently consisted of 34 aircraft, and was moving towards a single-aircraft type fleet with the progressive introduction of more A220-300s.
“We believe the A220-300 is an excellent, highly fuel-efficient new technology aircraft,” said Avation executive chairman Jeff Chatfield.
“We are growing our fleet with four more A220-300 aircraft leased to airBaltic and we are very proud to be expanding our partnership with this growing and popular airline.”
Chatfield noted that in 2018 the company leased two A220-300s to airBaltic, with the four additional new aircraft planned to be delivered from the final assembly line in the second quarter of 2019.
“The A220-300 is a new-technology single-aisle aircraft specifically designed to serve the 130 to 150 seat market.
“This drives the type's economic efficiency and performance, creating opportunities for regional single-aisle operations,” Charfield explained.
“We understand that orders for the Airbus A220 series already amount to over 400 aircraft.”
Vitold Jakovlevs, airBaltic’s chief financial officer, added that the airline was “very pleased” to be working with Avation again.
“Avation has again demonstrated their competitiveness which, combined with our good experience with the first two aircraft, is why we have selected them a second time,” Jakovlevs said.