Home > International Directory of Company Histories > A/S Air Baltic Corporation - Forming Air Baltic in 1995

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page
4. Tweet This

Forming Air Baltic in 1995

Latavio was eventually shut down after a failed privatization attempt. In the meantime, it was relegated to charter flights as another local airline was organized. Air Baltic Corporation SIA (later known as airBaltic) was formed as a limited liability corporation in August 1995. It was a partnership between the Latvian State, which owned 51 percent of shares, the Scandinavian airline group SAS AB, which held 28.5 percent of shares, and three other investors: BIUSA (8 percent), Swedfund International AB (6.2 percent), and IO Danish Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe (6.2 percent). AirBaltic was led by a management team from SAS.

The company's first plane was a 30-seat Saab 340 turboprop. The first flight occurred on October 1, 1995. An Avro RJ70 (British Aerospace 146), a small regional jet, was added to the fleet in January 1996. According to Airclaims, airBaltic also used a pair of Boeing 727s from the Baltic International fleet.

AirBaltic employed fewer than 200 people at the time. Reuters reported its most lucrative routes were to Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Stockholm; the latter two routes were operated in cooperation with SAS. Passengers included a higher than average percentage of business travelers.

1. Introduction
2. Origins
3. Forming Air Baltic in 1995
4. Weathering Change in the Late 1990s
5. In the Black in 2001
6. In the EU in 2004
7. Company Perspectives:
8. Key Dates:
9. Principal Divisions
10. Principal Competitors
11. Further Reading
12. Copyright Page
13. About Page