Latvian national airline “airBaltic” hopes to achieve a turnover of 700 million euros this year, the company’s executive director Martins Gauss said at a press conference on March 30.
At the same time, he predicted that “airBaltic” shares could be listed on the stock exchange in September next year. It is currently planned that the shares will be listed both on “Nasdaq Riga” and internationally, but it is still too early to decide on the choice of an international cooperation partner, Gauss said.
Commenting on the purchase of the “Audi e-tron” electric car, Gauss explained that “airBaltic” already informed the public in May 2022 about the company’s transition to an electric car in order to achieve the sustainability goal – zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050. He emphasized that the specific vehicles were selected during the procurement procedure and an explanation of all the circumstances of the case has already been sent to the Ministry of Transport (MoT).
The letter sent to the MoU stated that the deal is not only economically sound and carefully evaluated, but also sustainable and part of the wider decarbonisation of aviation, which applies to both aircraft and any cars in the airline’s use.
In the letter, it is stated that in October 2022, the term for leasing expired, according to which “airBaltic” used cars with internal combustion engines, therefore the company approached potential suppliers of electric cars. During the procurement procedure, 12 potential car suppliers were approached and six offers were received.
After careful evaluation of the received offers, “airBaltic” decided in favor of the purchase of 12 “Audi e-trons” for the next three-year period. The letter mentions that the “Audi e-tron” offer is a factory promotion, including a discount of about 26% from the standard price, as well as a high repurchase value of about 67%.
Due to the offer, the monthly payment is relatively small, the letter explains, namely 414 euros per car without value added tax (VAT). Over three years, they are 19,901 euros per car.
airBaltic denies that the Audi e-tron is a luxury car and the contract is a standard corporate car leasing offer. Gauss emphasized that if the chosen offer was for a luxury car, “airBaltic” would not have been able to purchase it due to regulatory acts.
“We have been falsely accused,” Gauss said, adding that when the public made accusations, hate was not only directed at him but also at his children and family on Twitter.
LETA has already announced that the Minister of Transport Jānis Wittenbergs (NA) has condemned the actions of the airline “airBaltic” in connection with the expensive lease purchase of the 2022 Audi e-tron electric car and will demand an explanation from the board of “airBaltic”.
The minister emphasizes that “airBaltic” should reflect the principles of good management in its operations, working efficiently and using every euro earned as efficiently as possible.
It has already been announced that the turnover of the “airBaltic” concern last year was 500.17 million euros, which is 2.5 times more than in 2021, but the company’s losses decreased by 2.5 times – to 54.219 million euros.
The Latvian state owns 97.97% of “airBaltic” shares, while “Aircraft Leasing 1” owned by financial investor, Danish businessman Lars Tūsen – 2.03%.
2023-06-14 10:05:02
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