The colours were three different shades of green and a shade of blue, and were all used for the mountain view of the symbol.
RIGA – Latvian airline airBaltic unveiled its repainted Boeing 737 to mark the start of cooperation with the Latvian Olympic Committee in the run up to the Winter Olympics 2014. The aircraft will serve airBaltic network spanning Europe, the Middle East, and Russia/CIS.
Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “We wanted to show our support to the Latvian Olympic team in the most visible way – on our aircraft. This is something we have not done before. With this we also wanted to show the public our aircraft as a beautiful and dynamic advertising channel, actually the largest advertising channel of the Baltic region visible to customers in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the CIS.”
Aldons Vrublevskis, President of the Latvian Olympic Committee: “This is a historic moment as airBaltic unveils the special Winter Olympics livery for the first time, it is an honour for the athletes, and for the airline. The Sochi Winter Olympic games in 2014 will be the first where the Latvian team will fly together on a chartered airBaltic flight. We have also invited the teams of Estonia and Lithuania to join the flight.”
Applying the ornament the surface area of which was a staggering 40m² to the left side of the plane consisted of painting with four colours and applying a sticker afterwards. The colours were three different shades of green and a shade of blue, and were all used for the mountain view of the symbol. The paint itself was a polyurethane coating, one used specifically for the needs of aviation. It has a very high endurance level, which any material used in a plane’s livery needs in order to remain intact in the high speed that an airplane can reach. This paint has to be elastic also – a little rubber-like, because the airplane, once high up in the atmosphere, expands slightly. The sticker placed on the paint was made out of vinyl film, which is so strong that it can remain on the surface it is placed on for up to seven years.
airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these, airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.
New Destinations and Improved Service in Winter
airBaltic will enter the winter season with new routes to Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Larnaca (Cyprus) and improve connectivity in its network spanning Europe, Middle East, and Russia/CIS.
Michael Grimme, Chief Commercial Officer of airBaltic: “As part of our successful airBaltic business turnaround we have been concentrating on high-demand routes. At the same time we have decreased flying on low-demand routes, which makes aircraft available for other new routes.
We are delighted that our new winter routes and the growing family of our partner airlines will offer a better service to our customers travelling for business or leisure. Our cooperation with Etihad Airways on the new Riga-Abu Dhabi route helps to substantially reduce the travel time between the two capitals and, to destinations in Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Additional flights to Kiev and enhanced code-share cooperation with Transaero Airlines on the Riga-Moscow routes ensure better connectivity for travellers to and from the East.”
The new direct Riga-Abu Dhabi flight marks the start of codeshare partnership between airBaltic and Etihad Airways and the linking of the capital cities of both countries by air for the very first time. Larnaca, Cyprus, is a new route in airBaltic’s winter programme to offer sunny escapes for holidaymakers.
airBaltic will increase its Riga- Kiev service to 3 daily flights, to improve connectivity with Western Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltic region. Furthermore, airBaltic has extended its code-share with Transaero Airlines and will additionally offer Riga-Moscow Vnukovo with 6 weekly frequencies. For the travellers between Riga and Moscow, airBaltic offers a daily Riga- Moscow Domodedovo service in cooperation with Transaero Airlines, and 28 weekly flights on the Riga – Moscow Sheremetyevo route in cooperation with Aeroflot.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
