airBaltic Riga and the A220: the Baltic carrier from inside, the mixed Baltic crew, the pay in euros and why it is a good first airline
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#1 Latvian, airBaltic, Riga, and the Baltic carrier appears on this forum only as 'the one with the A220s', which is true and is not the whole story. Here it is.
The airline
The national carrier of Latvia, based in Riga with bases in Tallinn and Vilnius and a growing seasonal presence elsewhere. An all A220 fleet, which is unusual and which the crew love. A network across Europe, the Nordics, some Middle East and Central Asia, and a wet lease operation in summer where airBaltic aircraft and crew fly for other airlines (Lufthansa, SAS and others) from their bases.
The A220
145 seats, two by three, a wide cabin for a single aisle, big windows, quiet, and a galley that is small but well designed. Three cabin crew. The service is a buy on board plus a business section at the front. Crew who have flown the 737 or the A320 describe the A220 as the nicest single aisle to work, and I have flown nothing else so I believe them.
The crew
Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, with Russian speakers across all three, plus a growing number of crew from elsewhere in Europe and beyond. The working language is English. The crew room is trilingual at least. The Baltic crew culture is calm, direct, and a bit dry, and the summer wet lease means you might spend three months based in Munich or Copenhagen flying for a German or Danish airline in an airBaltic uniform, which is a strange and interesting thing.
The pay
In euros, a basic plus flight pay, and the honest number is a Baltic salary: livable in Riga, where rent is low by European standards, and modest by German or Scandinavian standards. The wet lease summers pay allowances that improve the year. Nobody comes to airBaltic for the money. People come because it is here, because it is a well run airline with a nice aircraft, and because the seniority list is short.
Why it is a good first airline
The training is thorough. The A220 is a single type, so you learn one aircraft well. The wet lease summers put you inside other airlines' operations, which is an education. The Baltic bases are small enough that you are known. And airBaltic crew move on to Lufthansa, SAS, Finnair and the Gulf regularly, because the CV reads well. A lot of Baltic crew do three years here and then go.
Who it suits
Someone in or near the Baltics, or willing to be. Someone who wants a proper airline at a smaller scale. Someone who wants to learn and then, perhaps, move.
Questions from the Baltic applicants and the curious welcome.
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#2 Finnair, and airBaltic crew join us regularly and they arrive well trained and calm and knowing the A220, which we do not have, and knowing how to work inside a Lufthansa operation from the wet lease, which is useful. Kristin's 'good first airline' point is exactly how we see it from Helsinki.
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#3 Norwegian, and the wet lease summers where a Baltic crew flies for a Scandinavian airline are a thing we see at Stockholm every year, and the airBaltic crews are the best behaved wet lease crews on the ramp. Dry, direct, calm. Yes.
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#4 Prague, and the Central European carriers have the same 'good first airline, then move' pattern and the same modest pay and the same short list. Kristin has written the version for a whole region. It applies in Prague.
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#6 Bucharest, Wizz assessment soon, and I had not considered airBaltic at all and the A220 and the wet lease summer sound like a different kind of first year. Adding it to the list for next year if Wizz does not work.
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#7 Copenhagen, and I flew as a passenger on an airBaltic wet lease for SAS last summer and the crew were in airBaltic uniforms doing an SAS service on an A220 and doing it well and it was the most European thing I have ever seen. Good airline.