Penton Media’s Air Transport World, the leading monthly magazine covering the global airline industry, has announced that Riga, Latvia-based airBaltic was selected for the Phoenix Award, which recognizes airlines that have gone through a life-changing transformation.

Bertolt Flick, President and CEO of airBaltic: “We exercised a major business restructuring of airBaltic over the past two years that involved all sides of our business, be it operational or commercial. We are delighted that our achievement has earned global recognition from Air Transport World editors. For us in the airline industry ATW Phoenix Award has the same value as Oscar award for filmmakers.”

ATW Editorial Director Perry Flint: “The Phoenix Award was created to recognize those airlines that have achieved a commercial rebirth through a life-changing business transformation. This perfectly describes airBaltic, which changed its operating model from a point-to-point carrier to a network airline."

The editors cited airBaltic's successful decision to change its business strategy from a focus on point-to-point traffic in favour of a network model making Riga a connecting hub between East and West. Since making the transition, airBaltic has experienced significant improvements in traffic and financial performance, including a 33% rise in passengers at its home airport in the first nine months of 2009.

"airBaltic responded swiftly and decisively to the dramatic economic crisis of 2008-09 that hit Latvia particularly hard. By adopting a network model it has been able to replace lost point-to-point traffic and create success in the face of extreme adversity," said ATW Editorial Director Perry Flint.

"airBaltic successfully lowered unit costs while increasing unit revenue and achieving record passenger load factors. This was achieved by innovations in business model and commercial execution. These changes have enabled it to maintain strong traffic growth and positive cash flow during the current downturn and positioned it well for the inevitable recovery. airBaltic's rapid expansion has been accompanied by significant improvements in operational performance. Customer complaints declined by a third between 2008 and 2009, missed connections fell by 3.5 percentage points and it is among the leaders in punctuality in Europe" observed ATW's editors.

The award will be presented on February 1 in Singapore at ATW's gala dinner and awards celebration at the Swissotel-The Stamford. Further information about airBaltic's awards is available in the February issue of ATW.