Lufthansa acquires minority stake in Latvian airline airBaltic

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Lufthansa acquires minority stake in Latvian airline airBaltic

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airBaltic | Wikipedia

By Sky Industry News

Feb 4, 2025

Lufthansa has confirmed the acquisition of a 10% stake in Latvian airline airBaltic, finalizing a deal initially speculated in October. The transaction involves a €14 million ($14.6 million) investment, agreed upon by the Latvian Ministry of Transport and the Lufthansa Group, which grants Lufthansa both a minority stake and a seat on airBaltic's Supervisory Board.

The agreement allows for conversion into ordinary shares "upon a potential IPO of airBaltic," although no specific date has been set. An initial public offering was delayed to spring 2025, with possibilities of further postponement to early 2026 according to Reuters. Post-IPO, Lufthansa's stake will be determined by market pricing but will not fall below 5%. This deal builds on an existing strategic partnership between the two airlines.

The transaction is anticipated to close in Q2 2025, pending antitrust approval. It provides financial backing for airBaltic's growth and expansion of its wet-lease agreement with Lufthansa Group. Currently, airBaltic supplies wet-lease capacity during summer periods under an arrangement extended for three more years beyond summer 2025.

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airBaltic's association with Lufthansa began in 2019 and includes significant wet-lease operations involving its Airbus A220-300 fleet across several Lufthansa Group airlines such as Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines starting March 2025.

Lufthansa stated: "With the additional capacities of airBaltic, destinations in high demand in the route networks can be served even more flexibly in future." Additionally, this year marks an expansion of airBaltic's wet-lease operations including support for Uruguay's new national carrier Sociedad Uruguaya de Aviación from October 2025.

Lufthansa continues its European expansion strategy with this latest acquisition following its recent purchase of a 41% stake in ITA Airways earlier this month.