Originally Posted by
D Bru
One probably also has to wonder why the EU's three baltic states with a combined 6,5 million population would need to be served by a 55 strong fleet of A220s, as is the case with Air Baltics. For comparison, an absolutely similar sized market like Bulgaria, EU, is served by Bulgaria Air's five A220s, supplemented by one 319 and 4 320s. Their four E190/195 have already been outsourced since years, first to TAP/Portugalia and more recently to Air Serbia. The 320s are mostly doing charter flights. Which basically leaves five A220s serving the market, next to of course the Ryanair and Wizzair Sofia-based fleet. But the same LCC's are also serving the baltic market. So how 55 versus 5 aircraft in a similar sized market?
Wizz have 11 aircraft based in Bulgaria and only 3 in the Baltic states while a large chunk of Air Baltic's fleet (20 aircraft as of today) are leased out to other operators (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Air Serbia, Brussels Airlines ) and not used in the Baltic market.