Later Thursday airBaltic CEO Martins Gauss told LETA at a press conference that in 2015 airBaltic earned €19.5m in net profit, which is by €9.8m or 82% more than in 2014.
LETA reported that last year airBaltic performed 43,000 flights and carried 2.6 million passengers. The average load factor was 71%, and the average yield per passenger was €94.2.
airBaltic's punctuality rate was 94.4%, and according to the data of OAG Aviation Solutions, aviation data analysts, airBaltic achieved the best on-time performance globally for two years running in 2014 and 2015.
airBaltic's 2015 profit will be used to cover the losses of previous years, Transport Ministry's state secretary Kaspars Ozolins told LETA.
While Augulis told Latvian Television that airBaltic is the most popular airline in terms of passengers carried in Estonia, and it's expanding in Lithuania where it's the third most popular airline and last year posted a 14% increase in passengers carried.
In 2014 airBaltic posted €254,179,669 in turnover and €10,668,043 in profit, according to Firmas.lv. In 2013, the airline turned over €278,805,614 and posted €2,020,506 in profit.
In May the airline completed a capital injection deal that saw German investor Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes purchase a stake of around 20% in the company for €52m.
The Latvian State holds a 80% stake in airBaltic and has greenlighted lending about €80m to the company from the state coffers. airBaltic is on the lookout for a strategic long-term investor.
