Lufthansa Group strengthens wet lease partnership with airBaltic

Germany

Lufthansa Group has signed an agreement to receive a convertible share representing a 10 per cent stake of the Latvian state airline airBaltic which will be issued at a subscription price of 14 million euros. Additionally, Lufthansa Group will receive a seat in the airBaltic Supervisory Board.

The convertible share will be changed into ordinary shares upon a potential IPO of air Baltic. The size of the stake will be determined by market pricing of the potential IPO, with Lufthansa Group’s share amounting to no less than 5 per cent of airBaltic.

The transaction is building on the existing wet lease agreement between Lufthansa Group and airBaltic and intends to strengthen airBaltic’s role as a strategic partner of Lufthansa Group. Expanding this commercial cooperation allows Lufthansa Group to improve the quality of its network and to add additional markets. Additionally, a further product development of the wet lease services in line with our customer expectations is planned.

The closing of the transaction is planned for the second quarter of this year and subject to antitrust review.

Just recently, the wet lease agreement between Lufthansa Group and airBaltic has been extended for a further three years beyond the summer of 2025. This partnership enables to flexibly deploy up to 21 additional aircraft of the fuel-efficient Airbus A220-300 in summer and five aircraft of this type in winter at various Lufthansa Group hubs. Lufthansa Group is thus responding more flexibly to the additional customer demand in Summer.

With the additional capacities of airBaltic, destinations in high demand in the route networks can be served even more flexibly in future. At the same time, it strengthens the quality and stability of connections to Lufthansa Group Airlines' intercontinental services at the Group's hubs.

airBaltic is Latvia’s national and largest airline with its headquarters and hub in Riga and operates a fleet of 50 modern and fuel-efficient Airbus A220 aircraft. The Lufthansa Group has been working with airBaltic since 2019, which has proven itself to be a reliable and valuable partner.