Behind the scenes: Welcoming our 50th aircraft

In February 2025, airBaltic proudly welcomed its 50th Airbus A220-300, marking a significant milestone in the airline’s expanding single-type fleet. Featuring a special Baltic-themed livery, the aircraft was celebrated in both Canada and Latvia. This milestone brings airBaltic halfway to its goal of doubling its fleet to one hundred A220-300s by 2030.

airBaltic proudly revealed its 50th Airbus A220-300 in Mirabel, Canada, in collaboration with the aircraft manufacturer Airbus. This event marked the first in-person reveal of the aircraft, and we were honoured to celebrate alongside our long-standing partner Airbus and key stakeholders. With over 200 attendees, the event highlighted the significance of this milestone – not just for airBaltic as a long-standing customer and launch operator of the A220-300, but also for everyone who has been part of this journey throughout the years. Benoît Schultz, CEO of Airbus Canada, stated that the company is pleased to celebrate the revealing of its 50th A220: ‘We are honoured to continue being the partner of choice of airBaltic as it continues increasing its A220 fleet.’

The painting of this A220-300 livery was completed over an 18-day period. A total of 21 colours were used to bring the design to life, and for the first time ever, the Airbus A220 paintshop teams in Mirabel used a stencil overlay technique to layer colours.

What made this milestone even more special – our 50th aircraft was guided home from Canada under the glow of the northern lights! This view was captured by our team on board while flying over Greenland and lasted for around two hours.


The 50th aircraft was met with greetings from the Latvian air traffic controllers, granting the flight crew clearance to perform a special low pass over the runway in Riga airport at an altitude of 200 feet.


In 2012, airBaltic signed an agreement to purchase the Airbus A220-300 as part of its fleet modernisation. Since 2018, the airline has been steadily transitioning to an all-A220-300 fleet, which now totals 50 aircraft. Under the leadership of airBaltic's CEO Martin Gauss this milestone places the airline halfway toward the goal of operating 100 A220-300s by 2030.


The same team that accepted and delivered airBaltic’s very first Airbus A220-300 in 2016 also had the honour of flying the 50th A220-300 to our home base in Riga. Among them were airBaltic chief pilot Gerhard Ramcke, captain Erlend Sveinung Vevelstad, and cabin crew manager Gatis Stanga.


The event was attended by approximately 200 people, including employees of the company and Riga Airport, the airline’s partners, media representatives, and officials of the Latvian State as well as Ambassador of Canada to Latvia Brian Szwarc.