Latvian airline airBaltic has set a new world record as its newest CS300 turnaround for the first commercial flight took only 50 minutes after delivery from Canada.

Martin Gauss, chief executive officer of airBaltic, said: “I am happy to announce that we have welcomed our sixth CS300 aircraft in Riga and our fleet size is continuing to grow. We have yet again demonstrated our professionalism as the launch operator of CS300 aircraft by achieving the world record for the fastest turnaround for the first commercial flight. I am very proud of our team who achieved this goal.”  

The sixth airBaltic CS300 aircraft, registered as YL-CSF, arrived in Riga on July 21 at 11:15, Riga time. The flight time was 7 hours and 25 minutes and the aircraft covered 6 470 km non-stop distance between the Canadian and Latvian airports.

At 12:06, Riga time YL-CSF initial turnaround was finished and the aircraft departed for its first commercial flight BT641 to Zurich at 12:17. It is the first time that turnaround for the inaugural CS300 commercial flight has been carried out so promptly.

Thus far, airBaltic has completed more than 2,163 scheduled flights and flown over 5,523 block hours with the brand new Bombardier CS300 aircraft. In total airBaltic has carried more than 245,131 passengers on the CS300 aircraft.

By the end of 2019 airBaltic is planning to have 20 Bombardier CS300 aircraft on its fleet. With an average jet fleet age of only 2 years, airBaltic, as an all-Bombardier operator, will have one of the youngest jet fleets in Europe.

AirBaltic CS300 aircraft currently operates on such popular routes as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome, Moscow, London, Paris, Vienna, Athens, Madrid and others.

The new Bombardier CS300 aircraft, with a total of 145 seats, offers excellent flying experience with such benefits for passengers as wider seats, larger windows, more hand luggage space in the cabin, improved lavatories and more. The new aircraft is also much quieter – with four times smaller noise footprint. Moreover, at the moment, it is the greenest commercial aircraft in the world, as it is the first aircraft to have a transparent declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact, helping to reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by 20 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.

AirBaltic serves over 55 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these locations, airBaltic offers convenient connections via Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East. In addition, airBaltic also offers direct flights from Tallinn and Vilnius. - TradeArabia News Service