Bertolt Flick

War between the state of Latvia and its national airline airBaltic keeps harming the latter. Clients are among the victims as well, because numerous flights have been cancelled.

“There are several reasons why airBaltic cancelled flights. The airline will definitely fly less from Riga next year,” Bertolt Flick, airBaltic CEO and President, told the newspaper Dienas Bizness.

He was not commenting on possible versions that flights could have been cancelled because of too little passenger occupancy or the airline’s inability to pay for fuel.

According to Flick, one should not think that Riga simply cannot lose its leader position in the aviation sector. Its place can as well remain empty afterwards, as evidenced by the Lithuanian national airline FlyLaL. He believes it is unacceptable that the state is putting off capital boost, at the same time also not allowing the private shareholder Baltic Aviation Systems (BAS) to do that.

Flick calls “nonsense” the government’s argument that it cannot boost capital as long as there is no audit in 2010 annual report, because auditors in turn are waiting for airBaltic capital increase.

The government is currently contemplating airBaltic issues that have popped up just in the past days. An anonymous investor has paid nearly 10 million lats for obligations granted to SAS back in 2002. According to Flick, the person gives thirty days for the current shareholders to purchase these shares. Unless that happens, the investor will start using its voting rights in airBaltic and Latvia will no longer hold the controlling interest.