Sukhoi's Superjet 100 had been a strong contender for the Air Baltic fleet renewal, before being politically excluded from the competition.
Air Baltic has been introducing Bombardier CS300 jets – it has seven of the type so far – but chief executive Martin Gauss insists that the Superjet had been a "serious" option for the carrier.
"We would have had five in the fleet now," he said, speaking to FlightGlobal at the Dubai air show, where one of the carrier's CS300s is parked adjacent to a Superjet.
Gauss had previously overseen a potential order for Superjets to modernise the fleet of Hungarian flag-carrier Malev before the airline ultimately collapsed in early 2012.
Air Baltic had considered the same aircraft for its own fleet.
But a shareholder agreement included a requirement from the Latvian government that the carrier would not acquire aircraft from Russian military-industrial complexes subject to European Union sanctions.
For all the coverage from the Dubai air show visit our dedicated event page
Source: Cirium Dashboard
