A/S Air Baltic Corporation | In the Black in 2001
In the Black in 2001
airBaltic began the millennium with a new headquarters building at Riga International Airport. A new cargo terminal was opened there in 2001. Jens Helmo Larssen was named company president in June of that year. An SAS veteran, he succeeded Christian Kirchainer, who had led airBaltic since 1999. Bertolt M. Flick, a German, became CEO in early 2002.
The company broke even in 2001, posting its first after-tax profit of LVL 56,000 ($88,000) on revenues of LVL 28 million. About 249,000 passengers were carried during the year, an increase of 14 percent. These gains came in spite of the aftereffects of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, including a significant increase in the cost of insurance.
Passenger count rose slightly in 2002, to about 262,000. During the year, the company introduced new Baltic Shuttle fares. For example, noted Britain's Financial Times, one could fly one-way from Riga to Hamburg...
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