Latvia’s national airline airBaltic is not capable of operating without additional financial support, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has said.
Kulbergs said the government wanted to receive the airline’s business plan before making any further decisions about its future. According to the prime minister, airBaltic’s previous development plans have not been sufficiently assessed, and the company must demonstrate that it can become financially sustainable.
He described the airline’s current ambitions – including plans to operate a fleet of 100 aircraft and serve 10 million passengers annually – as overly ambitious. Kulbergs questioned whether these targets were supported by adequate economic analysis. He also criticised the governance of state-owned enterprises, arguing that the state did not always provide sufficiently professional oversight.
At the same time, the prime minister stressed that airBaltic was a strategically important company for Latvia, but said this could not justify unlimited state financial support. In his view, the airline must prove that it can achieve long-term financial sustainability.
Kulbergs has instructed Transport Minister Rihards Kozlovskis to submit the company’s business plan so the government could assess its viability and decide on the next steps. He said he expected to receive the plan later this month.
“We’ll see, but I believe airBaltic is not capable of flying without continuous financial injections,” Kulbergs said. (BNN)