Through a partnership agreement with UkrPoshta, the official postal service of Ukraine, airBaltic has established a multimodal logistics bridge between Kiev and Riga to enable mail distribution.
Mail is transported to Riga Airport (RIX) by truck, where it is loaded onto airBaltic flights to more than 70 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Since the first shipment was made on April 12, more than 7,000 bags of mail weighing 50 tons have already been transported.
«We are doing everything we can to help the Ukrainian nation. As a result, a regular Kyiv-Riga truck line now feeds airBaltic’s network of flights from Ukraine to major European hubs and beyond,» said Martin Gauss, CEO of the Latvian airline.
airBaltic operates a fleet consisting exclusively of Airbus A220-300 aircraft (34 in total with an average age of 2.8 years), although last week it added a Boeing 737-900 from Ukraine International Airlines on wet lease, also as a show of support for Ukraine.
Prior to the Russian invasion, airBaltic operated fourteen weekly flights to Ukraine: ten between Riga and Kiev; two between Riga and Odessa; and two between Vilnius and Kiev.
See also: airBaltic opens base in Finland with flights to seven European cities
About airBaltic
«Latvian airline Air Baltic Corporation AS (airBaltic) was founded in 1995. Its primary shareholder is the Latvian state, which holds 97.03% of the stock, while the rest of the shareholders hold 2.97%. airBaltic is a hybrid airline taking the best practices both from traditional network airlines and low-cost carriers.
In 2008, airBaltic changed its operating model from a point-to-point carrier to a network airline making Riga a connecting hub. The airline offers low-fare tickets in its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, CIS, and the Middle East. The prices are competitive not only with other airlines but also with the prices of bus, car, train, or ferry travel. Tickets are available not only for direct but also for transfer flights».
