AirBaltic to cancel flights to some destinations from Baltics due to lack of aircraft parts

The Latvian national airline airBaltic is removing four routes from Vilnius Airport as of September.  Meanwhile, flights to four destinations – Paris, Berlin, Tallinn, and Riga – will be less frequent. Flights from Riga to Edinburgh, Manchester, and Stavanger will be suspended due to the company’s lack of spare parts, according to the portal “15min.lt” and “airBaltic”.

The airline explained that the decision was due to a lack of aircraft parts, but it had promised to restore the number of flights to the current level in the winter.

From September, airBaltic is no longer scheduled to fly from Vilnius to Oslo, London Gatwick Airport, Dublin and Hamburg.

It is also planned to reduce the number of flights from Vilnius to Paris, Berlin, Tallinn and Riga. From September, airBaltic will operate three flights a week from Vilnius to Paris and twice a week to Berlin. There are currently four flights a week on these routes. It is also planned to reduce the number of flights from Vilnius to Riga and Tallinn, however, exact changes in these routes have not been reported yet.

According to information available on the airBaltic website, the company operates flights from Vilnius Airport to 13 destinations.

airBaltic representatives said that global supply chain problems have also affected the availability of specific spare parts for airBaltic aircraft. Currently, seven of the aircraft in the fleet need various missing spare parts.

At present, it is impossible to predict a specific time when they will be able to fully join the fleet, as it depends on the speed of production and delivery of spare parts. There may also be aircraft at the same time that need to undergo the planned technical work and inspections, which may also affect the availability of aircraft and the planning of further flights, airBaltic representatives explain.

In order to ensure the planned flight schedule, airBaltic has currently leased a few additional aircraft on a short-term basis. The airBaltic representatives emphasize that every effort is being made by the airline to enable all airBaltic to operate all its flights with Airbus A220-300 aircraft as soon as possible.

There are no plans to cancel flights in the coming months – July and August, but starting from September this year, changes will be made on various airBaltic routes. Direct flights from Vilnius to Hamburg, Dublin, London (Gatwick Airport) and Oslo will be suspended, and flights from Riga to Edinburgh, Manchester and Stavanger will be suspended.

According to airBaltic, this is only a temporary change and airBaltic aims to return to its previous winter scheduling schedule as soon as possible. All passengers who will be affected by the flight changes will be contacted individually by the airline to inform them of alternative travel options.