Klāvs Vasks, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of airBaltic
, has announced his resignation from the position following a “crazy rollercoaster ride” over the past 18 months.
Successful period
In a post on his personal LinkedIn, Vasks announced that he will resign on February 11. The Chairman of the board of the Latvian flag carrier said that the past 18 months have been akin to a “crazy rollercoaster ride,” which was filled with success.
This includes airBaltic attracting an unspecified strategic investor, with whom negotiations are expected to end in the coming weeks before Vasks leaves his post and the ongoing process of the airline’s initial public offering (IPO) that would take the company public.
“The latter, which has been spent fighting and proving the importance of airBaltic to the Latvian economy, trying to break the political agenda by achieving a change of approach to making important decisions for the development of assets important for the country.”
Photo: Karolis Kavolelis | Shutterstock
On December 12, 2024, airBaltic shared a document by the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
, which outlined that the country’s aviation sector directly employs around 8,600 people and generated an economic output of $452.3 million, or 1% of the country’s general domestic product (GDP) in 2023.
“When considering the broader impact – including supply chain activities, employee spending, and aviation-facilitated tourism – the total contribution rises to $1.9 billion, supporting 36,600 jobs and representing 4.4% of Latvia’s GDP.”
Related
Engine issues mean the carrier is forced to cancel 4670 flights from all its bases next summer.
Leaving with his head held high
Vasks expressed that the IPO process has had its challenges even though the airline’s leadership has done well on the business side, including finding a strategic investor, improving financial results, and arranging processes to attract private capital.
However, the executive outlined his frustrations with the current political climate in Latvia. The Latvian government owns 97.97% of airBaltic’s shares, while the remainder is held by Aircraft Leasing 1, a Latvia-based limited liability company (Sabiedrība, SIA).
“[…] the political system is built on finding the culprits, not taking responsibility, and not making and ignoring unpopular but long-term necessary decisions.”
Photo: MBekir | Shutterstock
Still, Vasks is leaving the carrier with his head held high, considering the strides airBaltic and its employees have made over the years.
“[…] I hope that the Latvian state will find candidates who, not only professionally but with their energy and enthusiasm, will be ready to sacrifice themselves to this work, often to be misunderstood, to fight the general public and political short-sightedness and indifference when it comes to making decisions that will come to the front pages of the news and the crossfire of the opinions of soccer experts.”
Previously, Vasks outlined that negotiations with the unidentified strategic investor hit a snag, with the airline’s representative clarifying that the talks have been ongoing and were at an advanced stage.
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Aligning with the Lufthansa Group
While neither Vasks nor airBaltic have outlined the strategic investor that could, presumably, acquire a stake in the carrier, previous reports had said that Lufthansa Group was eyeing a minority shareholding (10%) in the Latvian airline.
Throughout the past few years, airBaltic has worked closely with Lufthansa Group
and its airlines, providing wet lease services on behalf of Austrian Airlines
, Eurowings, Lufthansa, and Swiss International Air Lines ( SWISS
).
Photo: Adomas Daunoravicius | Shutterstock
In Q3 2024, airBaltic operated 13,300 passenger flights, with another 9,500 flights operated on behalf of Eurowings
, 
Lufthansa
, and SWISS. On September 13, 2024, airBaltic and the Lufthansa Group extended their wet lease partnership for another three years, starting with the summer of 2025.
The three-year collaboration will result in up to 21 airBaltic Airbus A220-300
aircraft being operated on flights on behalf of airlines within the Lufthansa Group.
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