DUBAI (Reuters) -Latvia’s airBaltic said on Monday it had placed an order for another 30 Airbus A220-300 passenger jets, along with options for another 20 as it targets 100 aircraft by 2030.
The move comes as the airline prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) around a year from now.
“We are in preparation for potentially doing an IPO. And of course an IPO is partly a growth story so the order will support the potential step of listing the company,” Chief Executive Martin Gauss told a news conference.
The largest Baltic airline was the launch operator for the A220-300, the larger of two variants originally developed by Canada’s Bombardier, which airBaltic operates to Dubai, where Gauss was speaking during the Dubai Airshow.
Gauss played down concerns about the plane’s Pratt & Whitney engines, part of the Geared Turbofan family that has seen production glitches and a shortage of spares.
“Let us say the engine is maturing and we wouldn’t have placed an order if we didn’t have full trust in the aircraft with the engine,” Gauss said.
Hundreds of larger A320neos and some A220s are being left idle as engines take longer than usual to work their way through overstretched repair shops.
“We have a long history with the aircraft and also the Pratt & Whitney engine and we have been through a difficult summer again,” Gauss said.
“We are now, in November, reaching a point where we are not to be missing any engines but as the programme still develops we expect we will once again be short of a few engines next year.”
Gauss said the new order would allow airBaltic to expand existing bases in the Baltics, add new ones in the Nordics and grow its wet-leasing business that services other airlines.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Louise Heavens and Deepa Babington)
