airBaltic marks extensive network in Italy, serves 9 cities
airBaltic emphasizes its robust network in Italy, serving nine cities, and celebrates 20 years of Riga-Milan flights, enhancing connectivity and passenger options in the region. Also, the airline marks one year of enhanced SAF usage.
The article airBaltic marks extensive network in Italy, serves 9 cities first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.
RIGA – The Latvian national airline airBaltic highlight its extensive network of destinations in Italy. The country is among the airline’s largest markets based on destination count, and airBaltic continues to offer direct flights to nine Italian cities.
Catania, Milan, Naples, Olbia, Pisa, Rome, Turin, Venice, and Verona are the cities where airBaltic offers direct flights. This connectivity provides local Baltic customers with a variety of travel options for both business and leisure needs. Travellers can explore vibrant and versatile cities and enjoy beautiful nature all year round.
Martin Gauss, President and CEO of airBaltic: “Over the years, the passenger demand for Italy has significantly increased and so has airBaltic presence in the country. We have continued to expand our network there, now offering local travellers convenient direct flights to nine cities in Italy. With an extensive network like this, airBaltic is among the largest connectivity providers to Italy from the Baltic region.”
This year, the airline also celebrated a remarkable milestone – 20 years of connecting Riga to Milan. The airline connects both cities with five weekly flights, providing passengers with a seamless travel experience and global connections.
airBaltic Marks One Year of Enhanced SAF Usage
Since May 2023, airBaltic has been offering passengers the voluntary option to participate in achieving climate neutrality goals by opting additionally for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). During the first year of operation, nearly 16,000 passengers from various countries have purchased SAF as an ancillary product, directly facilitating demand for sustainable fuel and highlighting the continuous growth of interest in sustainable aviation. These contributions have resulted in the use of 18 tonnes of SAF being utilized by airBaltic in May 2024 on flights routing from Spain to Latvia. The aircraft were refueled with SAF provided by Cepsa at the Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga airports.
“At airBaltic, we use only fuel recognized by the European Commission. We would like to thank our partner Cepsa for assisting in fulfilling our pledge to our customers. The SAF we uplifted is sourced from used cooking oil feedstock and complies with the European Commission’s ReFuelEU regulation and legislation,” says Andris Zdors, Head of Fuel Procurement and Operations at airBaltic.
Alvaro Macarro, Director of Sustainable Aviation at Cepsa, said: “Through collaborations like these, we continue to promote the use of sustainable fuel for aviation in the European market, and reinforce our commitment with circular economy objectives. Our aim is to lead SAF production in Spain and Portugal this decade to promote more sustainable aviation and help airlines advance their decarbonization goals.”
In June 2024, airBaltic began offering passengers the option to add even larger amounts of SAF to their flights. “We validated our customers’ willingness to voluntarily add SAF, observing consistent interest in this initiative. The upcoming European Commission mandate will require 2% SAF usage by 2025. The combined voluntary and mandatory usage of SAF supports the creation of a growing market for SAF, which is one of the key tools on the road to climate-neutral aviation,” says Zita Barānova, Head of Sustainability at airBaltic. The most popular routes for SAF use were Riga-Helsinki, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Tallinn.
A specific amount of SAF can be added to flights, by purchasing it along with bookings on the airBaltic homepage. airBaltic has divided all routes into four categories (<1000 km, 1001-2500 km, 2001-4000 km and >4001 km routes) and calculated the average fuel consumption for each based on last year’s fuel consumption statistics. Passengers can choose to contribute a sum that replaces approximately 2%, 10%, 50%, or 100% of the flight’s fuel attributed to one traveler with SAF in a particular distance category. The price of SAF varies depending on the ticket type, starting from EUR 0.96 per person, per flight. Corporate passengers are welcome to address such interest to their sales manager.
The article airBaltic marks extensive network in Italy, serves 9 cities first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.