Riga. The Latvian national airline airBaltic has already informed that Baltijas Aviācijas Sistēmas (BAS), a past shareholder in the airline, made a complaint to the European Commission DG Competition early 2012 about the actions taken by the shareholders that subsequently led to re-shaping the airline. Today the European Commission (EC) announced opening in-depth inquiry into these actions.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: „The general economic environment is difficult for all European airlines. The new management team at airBaltic has developed and is implementing airBaltic ReShape business plan. So far it has been a success and consistently achieved better-than-planned results every month. This shows that our business plan is robust, realistic and viable.

However, the complaint of BAS and the following EC decision is a reminder to us that past issues have to be clarified. For this, we have swiftly established a team of experts and advisers to explain the issues which were raised by the complaint.

We will take a very careful look at the full EC decision and question whether BAS as complainant has given an entire and complete picture to the European Commission.

I have instructed our experts to openly and constructively address all issues. It is absolutely essential that the Commission has insights into the details, context and factual background of the past actions. I am deeply convinced that the discussions with the Commission officials will prove to be an opportunity to establish legal certainty with respect to past transactions; that in turn will also reassure our future investors.”

Earlier this year, airBaltic announced its business plan airBaltic ReShape to return the airline to profitability and sustainable future development at Riga, which links the Baltic region with destinations in Europe, Middle East and Russia/CIS. airBaltic ReShape outlines the future development of the carrier, including the fleet modernisation, cost optimisation, operational efficiency, revenue enhancement and network improvements. By implementing airBaltic ReShape, the carrier plans improvements of LVL 330 million in the five years 2012-2016. airBaltic ReShape aims to return the carrier to profitability in 2014.

airBaltic serves 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.