Low cost airlines of the World. Today: Air Baltic

I think everyone likes more or less the low-cost airlines. I think the biggest Revolution in travel in the last decade was the boom of the low cost airlines which made worldwide travel more and more affordable. The idea is simple – they cut all the costs they can (as flying into secondary airports), they cut out the perks (like mile-based loyalty programs, although some low costs started these kind of schemes, as well) and charge for services which are not indispensable for just to be carried from X to Y (food, luggage, etc).

Obviously, flying such airlines is never an experience, but they usually have the job done. I flew almost 100 flights using such airlines around the Globe and I never had problems. Actually, these airlines usually operate the youngest fleets (to cut the maintenance costs) and I do not know any accident of the top 20 low costs of the world.

Starting today, I want to highlight some of the world’s low cost airlines. I think probably you heard of EasyJet, Ryanair or Air Asia, so I will try to write about some lesser known low-cost airlines… And today, I chose to write about Air Baltic.

Air Baltic is a Latvian company based in the wonderful city of Riga, in Latvia. It started as a joint venture with SAS, the Scandinavian air giant, but currently it ended up to be owned by the government of Latvia. It experienced severe financial issues in 2011, but it was saved and it is still up and running. It operates around 25 planes, mostly Boeing 737’s, Fokker and Dash.

I flew Air Baltic and I liked it. It had a quite youngish atmosphere on board and as I flew less than 2 hours, it was not uncomfortable at all. Otherwise, it run on time and, well, this is the only things I can tell you about my Air Baltic experience.

Why it is useful ? First of all, it is a company which connects many airports in Europe with the Baltic states via their hub in Riga. The Baltic Republics hide some of the nicest historical cities of Europe. I visited just their capitals – Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and Vilnius (Lithuania) and I remained impressed of their beauty and historical atmosphere (especially of Tallinn). You hate the hordes attacking the Prague streets especially in summer ? Think about the Baltic States and its Hansel & Gretel-type of fairy tale towns ! Riga is in the middle of the region and as you reach it, you can easily travel by train or bus to the other cities. Although Air Baltic flies to both Vilnius and Tallinn, it is not really necessary.

However, you need to consider Air Baltic also when you think to travel further, into the unknown East… in the former USSR. Air Baltic has an excellent network across ex-USSR, including – ATTENTION ! – Central Asia. And the fares are quite affordable. I tried some prices for end September and here are the results (all prices are for return tickets): Milan – Tbilisi (Georgia): 374 euro. Munich – Tashkent: 473 euro (and you can discover the wonderful Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara !) Rome – Kiev: 146 euro (and Kiev is such a fantastic town !). From their destination lists you can pick: Baku, the modern capital of Azerbaijan, Chisinau, in Moldova, Minsk, the reclusive capital of Belarus, Moscow, St. Petersburg, even Tel Aviv !

Air Baltic routes

On top, I really like their site as you can see the low-cost calendar … when you can fly the cheapest on that particular destination.

I would also suggest to follow Air Baltic on Facebook or Twitter.  I really encourage you to follow as Air Baltic uses the Social Media a lot and they throw some incredible deals for a couple of hours or days only on Facebook and Twitter.

So, if you are interested in visiting the Wild East ? Have a look on Air Baltic’s site.

Which I other low cost airlines did you use in the past and you found them useful or enjoyable ?