Latvia’s national airline airBaltic reported a loss of €70.1 million during the first quarter of 2026, more than doubling its losses from the same period last year despite continued passenger and revenue growth.

According to figures released to the LETA news agency, the airline’s first-quarter loss was 2.4 times higher than the €29.3 million loss recorded during the opening quarter of 2025.

At the same time, airBaltic Group revenue increased by 12.3% year-on-year to reach €149.1 million.

Passenger Numbers Continue To Rise

The airline carried a total of 1.5 million passengers during the first three months of 2026, representing growth of 10.9% compared with the same period last year.

Of those passengers, 1.044 million travelled on airBaltic’s scheduled route network, marking a 4.9% increase year-on-year.

Flight activity also expanded during the quarter.

Including ACMI full-service aircraft leasing operations, airBaltic operated 15,100 flights in total during the quarter, an increase of 11.3%.

The airline carried out 10,700 flights on its regular route network, up 4.2% from the first quarter of 2025, while ACMI operations surged by 33.5% to 4,400 flights.

Load Factor Slips Slightly

Despite the rise in passenger traffic, the airline’s average seat load factor declined slightly.

airBaltic reported a first-quarter load factor of 74.8%, which was 1.1 percentage points lower than during the same period a year earlier.

The load factor measures how full aircraft are on average and is closely watched as an indicator of operational efficiency and demand.

Operating Performance Shows Improvement

While net losses widened sharply, airBaltic reported improvement in adjusted EBITDAR performance.

The airline generated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, lease deductions and litigation provisions of €7 million during the quarter.

That compares with a negative adjusted EBITDAR result of €4.3 million during the first quarter of 2025.

Comparison With Last Year

In the first quarter of 2025, airBaltic reported revenue of €132.7 million, representing modest annual growth of 0.3% compared with early 2024.

At that time, the airline’s quarterly losses had improved by 27.8% year-on-year to €29.3 million.

The latest results highlight the continued challenge facing European airlines as rising operating costs, fleet expansion and market competition place pressure on profitability even as passenger demand remains strong.