Officials in the Latvian government have agreed to a capital increase for airBaltic to enable the future development of the Latvian national carrier and fleet modernisation.

The cabinet of ministers approved a capital increase by LVL57.6 million (US$107 million).

As part of the plan presented to the government today, airBaltic will modernise its fleet to operate two types of aircraft – Bombardier Q400 Next Gen turboprop for regional flights, and either Airbus 320 or Boeing 737 New Generation.

All in all, the operational fleet will consist of 24 aircraft in 2012.

The modernised fleet will allow airBaltic to operate more efficiently and retain focus on affordable tickets to Europe, Middle East, Russia/CIS, and increase flight frequencies to the highly demanded destinations.

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia.

From every one of these, airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.