Summary
- airBaltic and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) have announced their wet lease partnership in August 2022, which began in November 2022.
- Initially, the partnership covered 30 destinations and now, has expanded to 45 destinations.
- For airBaltic, wet lease activities generated 15% of its total revenue in 2023.
If you have ever flown through Zurich Airport (ZRH), you might have spotted a peculiar sight: several airBaltic aircraft operating out of the same gates and terminals as Swiss International Air Lines, trading as SWISS. That was no coincidence since airBaltic and SWISS have had an agreement in place, whereupon the former would operate flights on behalf of the latter, utilizing its fleet of all-Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
Being onboard on such a flight, there would be some telltale signs that you are on an airBaltic aircraft, one being the lime green livery accents on the aircraft’s tail, winglets, and engine cowlings. Another hint would be the aircraft safety card, while the onboard shopping menus and seat headrest covers are SWISS-branded.
Starting in winter 2022
According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, SWISS began scheduling flights that were operated by airBaltic in November 2022. Meanwhile, the two carriers announced their cooperation in August 2022. At the time, the Switzerland-based airline said that airBaltic would operate flights on behalf of SWISS during the upcoming winter period. The agreement, covering a wet lease of six Airbus A220-300 aircraft, complemented SWISS’ own fleet of 21 aircraft of the type, which has since expanded to 30 aircraft, ch-aviation data showed.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Nevertheless, Tamur Goudarzi Pour, the then-chief commercial officer of SWISS, detailed that the collaboration with airBaltic will enable SWISS to stabilize its flight schedules and give customers even greater flexibility in making their travel plans. Pour has since moved to be the head of the Customer Experience division of the Lufthansa Group.
“airBaltic is an ideal wet-lease partner for us. Like us, they operate the highly advanced, innovative and eco-friendly Airbus A220-300. And they have already performed flights for other airlines of the Lufthansa Group this summer with impressive reliability.”
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Initial network
Cirium data showed that in November 2022, airBaltic operated 114 weekly one-way flights from ZRH on behalf of SWISS, operating itineraries to 30 destinations. Some were one-weekly flights, such as operations to Manchester Airport (MAN) or Bordeaux Airport (BOD), while some were frequent itineraries, including 12 weekly departures from ZRH to Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER).
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
The partnership expanded to airBaltic operating 118 weekly one-way itineraries on behalf of SWISS in December 2022. However, in January and February 2023, this briefly dipped to 81 weekly departures each month. While the weekly frequency level went back to a similar level as at the end of 2022 in March 2023, by April 2023, it grew massively to 181 weekly departures.
During the same period, airBaltic encountered a curious situation: as its engine situation worsened, with the Pratt & Whitney PW1900G turnaround times (TAT) during engine shop visits ballooning due to supply chain issues, it had to wet lease aircraft from other airlines to avoid canceling flights.
At the same time, it continued to operate a high level of frequencies on behalf of SWISS. In fact, in June 2023, airBaltic had 609 scheduled departures on behalf of Eurowings, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and SWISS, which was reduced to 580 weekly flights in July 2023.
|
Period |
Weekly flights on behalf of Eurowings |
Weekly flights on behalf of SAS Scandinavian Airlines |
Weekly flights on behalf of SWISS |
|
June 2023 |
131 |
124 |
354 |
|
July 2023 |
132 |
88 |
360 |
|
September 2023 |
122 |
120 |
360 |
|
November 2023 |
0 |
0 |
160 |
|
March 2024 |
0 |
0 |
240 |
SWISS continued wet leasing that level of capacity from airBaltic until the summer season ended, when it went back to 80 weekly departures by November 2023. By the beginning of 2024, the Riga Airport (RIX)-based carrier continued operating at that level until March, when the weekly frequencies grew to 120 once again.
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Current level of flying
Since March 2024, airBaltic and SWISS once again continued to expand their partnership, with the Latvian airline operating itineraries from ZRH to more than a dozen destinations within Europe. In June, airBaltic has been scheduled to fly 195 departures to 45 destinations from the largest city in Switzerland.
Photo: Great Circle Mapper
While SWISS has not launched a direct flight to airBaltic’s main hub, RIX, the latter began flying the route in November 2006, Cirium data indicated. In January, the two airlines began a codeshare agreement that covered the RIX-ZRH route and any connecting flights before or after the itinerary from Riga to Zurich or vice-versa. At the time, airBaltic detailed that the codeshare agreement has resulted in additional passenger traffic from a network of over 100 destinations, including the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Still, preliminary data showed that the two airlines should continue their agreement in 2025. So far, schedules have been filled up to March 2025, with the Latvian operating 83 weekly one-way departures on behalf of SWISS during the month.
The partnership has benefitted both airlines. On multiple occasions, Martin Gauss, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of airBaltic has expressed that wet leasing has become an important part of the airline’s revenues and was one reason why the airline decided to expand its order book of the Airbus A220-300 to 100 aircraft, which includes 80 firm orders.
Photo: MBekir | Shutterstock
In 2023, airBaltic’s revenues were €667.9 million ($714.5 million), out of which, €100.7 million ($107.7 million) was earned from its wet leasing business, or 15%. Meanwhile, its total capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), was 8.2 billion.
airBaltic’s capacity that included the aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) was 10.7 billion ASKs, meaning that 23% of its total capacity was dedicated to wet leasing its aircraft to other airlines in Europe, which included SWISS.
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