Latvian airline airBaltic will cancel a total of 4,670 flights in the summer season of 2025 due to longer-than-expected engine maintenance work, the airline said in a release on January 2.
The aircraft engines are being maintained by Pratt & Whitney. Pratt & Whitney has informed airBaltic of expected delivery delays in 2025, meaning that some of the airline's Airbus A220-300 aircraft will not be able to operate as planned.
This will force airBaltic to suspend flights on 19 routes and reduce frequencies on 21 routes. In total, 4,670 flights will be canceled, affecting around 67,160 passengers, airBaltic said.
The airline apologized for any inconvenience caused and offers affected passengers the option of rebooking their flights or a full refund, if necessary.
Passengers who have flights canceled are invited to check their reservation in the "My Booking" section of airBaltic.com where they can choose alternative airBaltic flights or request a full refund. If tickets were purchased via a third-party internet portal, the relevant ticket seller should be contacted.
airBaltic has also informed Riga Airport about the flight reductions.
"The cancellation of a large number of airBaltic flights will mainly affect the ground handling capacity and the number of flights at Riga Airport, thus reducing the budgeted revenues," said Ilze Salna, spokesperson of RIX Riga Airport.
The airport also noted that the planned flight schedule has been received and the impact is currently being calculated.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport has instructed the airBaltic Supervisory Board to immediately explain the justification for the decision to cancel such a large number of flights, Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens (Progresīvie) said on social media.
According to the company the cancelled routes are as follows:
From Riga:
Aberdeen
Belgrade
Cluj-Napoca
Yerevan
Gothenburg
Mykonos
Pristina
Rzeszow
Skopje
Stavanger
From Vilnius:
Dubrovnik
Ibiza
Rhodes
Chisinau
Tel Aviv
Valencia
From Tallinn:
Dubrovnik
Hamburg
From Tampere:
Rhodes
