airBaltic will end its Boeing 737 fleet operations in the autumn, one year ahead of plan.

The airline aims to minimise complexity and benefit from the additional efficiency of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft which will become the only jet type operated by the Latvian airline.

Martin Gauss, chief executive of airBaltic, said: “Airbus A220-300 is the aircraft of our future and, by phasing out the Boeing 737, we will have the youngest jet fleet in Europe.

“The introduction of Airbus A220-300 has been very successful and provided the additional efficiency any airline is seeking in the highly competitive aviation market.

“Thanks to the good overall performance we took a decision to introduce a single type fleet of up to 80 (50 firm order and 30 options) Airbus A220-300 aircraft by 2022.”

So far airBaltic has received 14 of its Airbus A220-300 orders and eight new aircraft will join this year.

In late 2018, airBaltic phased out three of its Boeing 737-500 aircraft.

Currently the airline still operates six Boeing 737-300 and two Boeing 737-500 jets.

airBaltic serves over 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, offering the largest variety of destinations and convenient connections via Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East.