While it hasn’t even been a full year since we last examined the all-A220 fleet of airBaltic,
our recent interview with the airline’s CEO, Martin Gauss, revealed a lot about the state of
the Latvian carrier. Since our last video about the airline’s fleet, we’ve seen the addition of
another five A220-300s, pushing the number of jets from 34 to 39. The airline is expecting more jets
in the near future and so we can’t expect this number to be accurate by the time you see this.
The carrier is certainly happy with the type, despite the supply chain issues its engines are
now encountering. With these challenges, as well as a few exciting announcements,
let’s spend today’s video examining the airBaltic fleet in 2023!
Well, in terms of airline fleet composition, there’s really not much to say that hasn’t already
been mentioned in our introduction: The airline took delivery of a total of seven A220-300s over
the course of 22 - five since the publication of our 2022 airBaltic fleet video in April 2022.
At the moment, the airline’s average fleet age sits at an extremely youthful 3.2 years,
having chosen the cleansheet Airbus A220-300 and ex-Bombardier CS300 as its one and only type.
As we mentioned in last year’s video, the airline said goodbye to its 12 Dash-8-400s
and final four Boeing 737-300s in March 2020, clearly a result of the pandemic.
So with a relatively slow delivery rate and a single-type fleet,
what could possibly be new about airBaltic compared to last year? Quite a bit, actually!
We can start with the good news first and discuss the airline’s newly-announced deal
with SpaceX and its Starlink product - a deal that will see complimentary,
high-speed internet for all passengers on all flights. Indeed, this internet will be
fast enough for every passenger to watch video streaming services like Netflix simultaneously!
The evolution of the low-Earth orbit market has been spearheaded by SpaceX and its ever-growing
Starlink constellation. December 2022 saw Starlink hit a major milestone, with more
than one million subscribed users benefitting from the service. Most of these are domestic US users,
but last June SpaceX received permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to
start using the system with moving vehicles - including ships, trucks and airplanes.
This is exactly how Latvia’s airBaltic has been able to strike a deal with SpaceX.
The airline is well known for doing things differently, from becoming the first to
accept cryptocurrency as payment, to being the first to operate only the Airbus A220.
But now, it will be one of the first airlines to utilize Starlink, and the
first in Europe to sign up for the system. We actually caught up with CEO of airBalic,
Martin Gauss, to find out more about this latest bold decision.
We first asked the airline CEO why airBaltic opted
for this lesson-common solution from SpaceX. To this, Gauss responded:
No need to read “We were looking at what alternatives are
there for the future, and we identified the SpaceX Starlink system as something which would perfectly
fit airBaltic. It's new, it's much faster, and we share that innovative spirit of SpaceX.
“The team SpaceX, the spirit of Starlink,
is what we really like, because we have that innovative spirit too. And we just
found a company which has that times 10. These people are amazing, their the energy levels and
and how they come up with innovations all the time. It's the perfect fit for us.”
Gauss added that there was a benefit to SpaceX in partnering with airBaltic too.
Being the world’s largest operator of the A220, SpaceX could work towards getting the
required permissions to use its system on a new aircraft type. Additionally, airBaltic is
an airline that has extensive experience using the aircraft type- a win-win for both parties.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. The other benefit of Starlink for Gauss was the ability to
offer it completely free of charge and with no signup required. Typical systems come with high
costs for installation and data use, which then means passengers have to be billed to
use the service. The Starlink offering was far more attractive, as Gauss explained:
“Installation is very, very fast and will be done in-house - it's not complicated. When you
walk onto the aircraft and simply select the WiFi - no password - and you can have
at all times high speed internet access. You can do your Netflix,
you can do all your social media stuff, undisrupted.”
Offering WiFi for free is the ultimate goal of almost every airline out there
with internet connectivity onboard. Delta Air Lines recently unveiled its free WiFi offering,
but passengers are still required to sign as Skymiles members to access the service.
JetBlue has offered free WiFi since 2013, but, again, users are still required to register.
By offering the service as an open WiFi connection, airBaltic is breaking
boundaries and making it easier than ever to stay connected in flight. But with no
plans to charge for the service, what’s the business case for investing in Starlink?
On this topic, Gauss explained that it’s all about differentiating airBaltic from the competition,
“We always look at what the needs are for the future, and what is
really needed right now is high-speed internet access without complication. There's a cost,
of course, to us. But the business case behind it is purely based on the pickup
of demand by passengers to choose that airline again, because of the experience.
“We have that already because of the A220. The aircraft today is one of
the reasons why we are chosen by passengers over other carriers because of the quality of
transportation. That quality goes up now by offering something everybody needs.”
Prior to making the decision, airBaltic undertook in-depth research of its passengers
to identify the benefits of fast and free WiFi onboard. The conclusion they came to
was that it would be more beneficial not to commercialize the offering,
but rather to leave it as a free perk to make the airline the first choice for passengers.
One thing airlines have always struggled with is WiFi speeds,
and maintaining those speeds no matter where they fly.
Gauss noted that, due to national regulations, there may be some areas where airBaltic will
not be allowed to have the service active, but aside from that, the airline chief is confident
that every passenger will be able to access fast and stable WiFi throughout their flight.
“I've tested it. I've been on an aircraft flying with it, and I was very impressed. There is
a download speed of up to 350 megabits per second, to give you an idea. So if everybody
onboard wants to watch Netflix at the same time, even if you have around one megabit per second,
you can still watch Netflix. We only have 150 seats on our aircraft, so every passenger can
watch Netflix, even gaming is possible. So we will not have an issue with the speed.”
This good news comes with a little bit of bad news.
For airBaltic, this inflight connectivity can’t come fast enough. The rollout will be swift,
with in-house antenna fitting enabling the entire fleet to be outfitted rapidly. But
the actual date for the service to go live is out of airBaltic’s hands:
“We’re targeting 2023, but we cannot give an exact date. And the reason is purely regulatory … The
satellites are there, the system is functioning - It's functioning on our aircraft already. But
we need to get permission for the A220-300, which we will be doing together with Airbus and SpaceX.”
So, we’ll just have to wait to see how this regulatory
process goes - and report on any big changes at SimpleFlying.com!
Now that we’ve covered the happier news - let’s
look at where the airline is facing some challenges.
As the world’s only Airbus A220 operator, airBaltic is operating
a crowd-pleasing service. But when something goes wrong with the A220,
it suffers the impact more acutely than most. As Gauss notes, the airline is dealing with one
particular problem that caused headaches last summer, and will again this year…
“We still have these teething issues with the engines … It is caused by supply chain
issues - it’s not only our engines, it’s over the world, and we're dealing with it. But we
will see this, also this year, putting a little bit of a shadow on the A220.”
Overall, Gauss has been very impressed with its performance: Its extensive range,
highly fuel efficient operations and passenger satisfaction are all delivering as they should.
But what’s the issue with the engines that is holding
it back from performing to its full potential?
Well, the airline’s CEO explained that, due to lifetime limited parts in the engines,
at various intervals in the A220’s lifetime, they need to be removed from the airplane.
The engines are taken off the wing and shipped to a specialist MRO provider to
change the parts. Right now, this is not happening as it should be.
“Normally, that would take, let's say, an average of 90 days to take the engine from the wing,
ship it and get the engine back. That process now, instead of 90 days, takes eight months.”
Under normal circumstances, airBaltic would have spare engines in stock to replace the engines
under maintenance, so that it can continue operating the aircraft. The problem is,
with the whole process taking an extended amount of time,
there just aren’t enough spare engines to keep the fleet flying.
“As we take more and more engines off the wing,
we don’t have sufficient spare engines because they're just no engines there.”
This, of course, is causing disruptions, something airBaltic managed to offset
last summer with the induction of wet-leased aircraft from other airlines.
While that enabled airBaltic to fly its schedule,
Gauss noted that it didn’t always go down well with passengers.
“That, of course, makes the passengers unhappy who want to fly on the most modern
aircraft. They expect an airBaltic A220 but find themselves on an aircraft which is not ours.”
Last summer, airBaltic wet-leased five airplanes from other airlines,
reaching a peak of six in the height of the summer. Right now, this is not a problem,
as the airline has scaled back for the quieter winter period. However,
it foresees the problem persisting into this summer season as Gauss confirmed.
“We will also have this situation this summer, as we are growing significantly
compared to last year, and the engine situation hasn't really changed. So
the forecast is that we come back to normal supply chain operations on the engine in 2024.
"We had six aircraft in the peak summer flying for us from other airlines,
and it was a mix of different airlines. We expect that, this year, that number could be the same,
maybe even two more, for the peak summer. Final numbers depend on the engine delivery
schedule as we are also expecting a lot of aircraft deliveries this year.”
So, if you’re flying airBaltic this summer,
specifically to experience the A220, maybe try to manage your expectations!
Forecasts for all aviation operations in summer 2023 are already signaling disruption
for passengers once again. While the industry has come a long way from its post-pandemic restart,
there is still a way to go. airBaltic’s experience just shows that it’s not only
airports and schedules that are being disrupted, but airline maintenance and repair work too.
Nevertheless, Gauss remains incredibly happy with the A220,
and is looking forward to things getting back to normal, hopefully in 2024.
“The A220 is delivering; the engine is good. But the engine,
when it comes off the wing and gets the lifetime limited parts changed or
the engine gets upgraded, it just takes too long until it returns.”
So, those are the two big pieces of news associated with airBaltic.
The airline continues to be the poster-child for A220 operations,
and has likely provided inspiration for other airlines of a similar size - or smaller.
While no connection has been made explicit, we can imagine Croatia Airlines would have studied
airBaltic’s situation before drafting up its own plans to become an all-A220 operator by 2026. And,
with Delta air lines recently converting more of its A220 options into firm orders,
the next few years should be quite exciting for this little aircraft!
Have you flown on an airBaltic A220 yet? Are you excited to hear that an airline is offering free,
unlimited, high-speed internet access onboard without the need for any registration?
Let us know by leaving a comment!