Air Baltic is cutting 19 routes from its planned summer schedule, and reducing frequencies on others, attributing the decision to delays in engine maintenance for its Airbus A220-300 fleet.
The carrier – which was the launch operator for the type – has nearly 50, but it says it is experiencing “unexpected delays” and “prolonged” maintenance on the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G.
Air Baltic says the powerplant manufacturer has told the carrier that engine shortages mean “several” of its A220s will remain grounded for a period in 2025.
The carrier is cancelling nearly 4,700 flights across its bases for summer, cancelling 19 routes and reducing frequencies on another 21. It operates from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere and seasonally from Gran Canaria.
Air Baltic says it is continuing to “work closely” with P&W to resolve the delays and “find a sustainable solution”.
It adds that it “deeply regrets” the disruption and is “fully committed” to supporting customers affected by the cancellations.
“Like many other airlines worldwide, Air Baltic has been facing external factors beyond its control, including global supply chain issues and maintenance constraints,” it states.
Chief executive Martin Gauss recently told FlightGlobal that, initially, the carrier was advised to take seven spare engines to cover a fleet of 30 aircraft.
But he added that some components were only lasting 150h, and the airline quickly ran out of spare powerplants.
The situation has improved, he said, with engines on new A220s lasting more than 3,000h.
But he has been broadly content with the A220, he said: “The aircraft itself does what it’s supposed to do, it has more range than promised when bought it, better engines than promised, and the interior is state-of-the-art.”
Pratt & Whitney says it is “focused on increasing MRO capacity and output” while “continuing to work through” industry supply-chain challenges.
“We are proactively taking steps to reduce unscheduled engine removals, and are working with our customers to bring solutions, including spare engines, to increase aircraft availability,” it adds.
