The Lithuanian capital's airport was the first place where the company opened a base outside RIX Riga Airport. The 20 years have seen many changes.
With the opening of the Vilnius base in 2004, the company's route network was expanded, adding 11 more destinations from the Lithuanian capital to the existing 27 from Riga.
"Over these 20 years, airBaltic has become a very important partner not only in the development of Vilnius, but also other Lithuanian airports. I can still remember myself flying from Vilnius to Copenhagen in Denmark 20 years ago on a newly acquired Fokker 50 from airBaltic." said Lithuanian Airports CEO Simonas Bartkus.
In a conversation with LSM.lv, Bartkus pointed out several times that the story is not only about the Latvian national airline and Vilnius, but also about Palanga airport, from which, after connecting in Riga, one can get to, for example, Amsterdam or Paris.
"I would like to underline that the company is not only thinking about Riga, as we are working on a risk-sharing project to open new destinations," Bartkus said.
Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic, also told LSM.lv: "Our cooperation with Lithuanian airports and Vilnius Airport has developed positively over the years, we have worked together to launch several new routes, most of which have been very successful. We are also working together on a risk-sharing project to operate two new routes to Lisbon and Hamburg."
Over 20 years, several conditions for cooperation have remained unchanged, such as a shared commitment to improving travel opportunities and regional connectivity. At the same time, both sides have worked towards common goals to take this cooperation to a new level.
"We see that airBaltic continues to expand its route network and fly modern aircraft, while at the same time it provides connectivity to other partners outside our region, such as Air France or DELTA," Bartkus said.
He also stressed that the future outlook is optimistic and there are no signs of a diminishing role for Vilnius in the company's development strategy.
Speaking about the future and the expansion of airBaltic's fleet, the Lithuanian Airports CEO said that the company has every opportunity to take an increasing market share at Vilnius Airport and grow from the third-largest airline to the second largest.
The Latvian national carrier is currently the third largest carrier at Lithuanian airports, behind Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air and Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair.
"Vilnius is one of airBaltic's main bases in our route network, where we will base two aircraft in 2024 and from where we operate 19 routes," airBaltic's CEO Gauss described the airline's current position.
