airBaltic transported 729,897 passengers in the first quarter of 2018, or 24 per cent more than in the same period last year.

In March, 280,724 passengers, or a quarter more than last year, travelled with the Latvian airline.

Martin Gauss, chief executive of airBaltic: “We just presented the 2017 results that were the best operational results in the history of the airline, and now we have achieved a new passenger record for first quarter of 2018 too.

“I am proud of airBaltic team that everyday keeps up the good work and offers our passengers great flying experience.”

He added: “March was an exciting month for us – at the end of March we entered our summer season with three new destinations from Riga to Lisbon, Malaga, and Gdansk as well added one new route from Tallinn to London.

“This summer we will serve a total of over 70 routes from Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius offering the biggest variety of destinations and best connectivity for business and leisure travellers alike.”

In March 2018, the airline performed 4,216 flights, or 15 per cent more than in the same period of 2017.

During the first three months of the 2018 airBaltic has operated 11,591 flights.

The airline’s load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of available seats, was at a level of 72 per cent in March 2018, but during first quarter of 2018 airBaltic’s load factor was at a level of 67 per cent.

The 15-minute flight punctuality indicator for airBaltic reached a level of 90.1 per cent in March 2018.

This means that more than 90 out of every 100 airBaltic flights departed at the planned time or with a delay of no more than 15 minutes.

The flight punctuality indicator during the first three months of 2018 reached a level of 89.8 per cent.