Airport, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Transport

Martin Gauss.

During a meeting with members of the press yesterday, Gauss confirmed that the airline is currently in a complicated financial situation, and that his priority will be to stabilize the business and get the company ''back on track''.

At the same time, he emphasized that even though the airline's financial figures are unpleasant, the situation within the airline is not hopeless and that the necessary steps will be found to solve the situations, informs LETA.

He did not comment whether the airline will reduce the number of flights, pointing out that work is currently being done to come up with a short-term plan.

Gauss also invited local media to be understanding of the situation at the airline, and that he will release his plan of the airline's future operations by the end of January. He also added that there could be some more information on the improvement of the airline's situation by the end of the year.

''At the moment, it is still hard to come to some sort of conclusions regarding the exact steps needed to stabilize the business. It is important to understand that the situation will not be solved within a month,'' Gauss added.

airBaltic’s new CEO on several occasions said that he highly values the airline's brand and success story, that is why the decision to become the airline's new CEO was an easy one.

As reported, last week, the council of airBaltic confirmed the former head of Hungarian airline Malev Martin Gauss as the airline's new CEO.

On November 1, Gauss took over his duties at the airline.

''I am very much looking forward to being part of the airBaltic team. The airline has a very strong brand and is an energetic and innovative company. It will be my task to set up clear structures which are missing at present. I will introduce corporate governance in order to reach a financially positive airline operation,'' Gauss said in a statement at the time.

Martin Gauss, who is from Germany, is a professional with nearly 20 years of experience in the airline industry, and in the European Union aviation market.

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations with direct flights from its home base in Riga.

Air Baltic Corporation was established in 1995. The company's majority shareholder is the state of Latvia with 52.6% of shares. On the other hand, airBaltic’s former president Bertolt Flick owns 50% in Batlijas Aviacijas Sistemas (BAS), which is the airline's private shareholder, which controls 47.2% of shares in the airline.

On the other hand, the owner of the Bahamas-based company Taurus Asset Management Fund Limited, which owns a 50% stake in BAS, is Russian resident Andrey Rudeshko.