airBaltic Prepares to Cut 500 to 700 Jobs as Its Chapter 11 Plan Shrinks the A220 Fleet

According to Reuters, as carried by Capital.com, the airline is preparing layoffs affecting about 500 to 700 positions across the three bases. The company said it is negotiating with unions on potential reduced-workload arrangements for pilots and cabin crew, and that new organisational structures for the rest of the company are expected to be defined by mid-October. It added that the final number of layoffs could change during the process.

Trade publication ch-aviation, reporting on 6 October, tied the range directly to those two open items: the union consultations on reduced workloads for flight crew, and the new organisational structure. That linkage matters for reading the headline number. Reduced hours for pilots and cabin crew, if agreed, could lower the count of people who actually leave, so the 500 to 700 band is a ceiling-and-floor planning assumption rather than a list of named roles.

Chief executive Erno Hildén, quoted by Reuters in September, had already said the airline was talking with unions about an "adjustment" to the workforce. In the 5 October communication he said no final decisions had been made regarding individual employees, according to the AeroCorner summary of the announcement. The airline also stated that the plan does not affect its current flight schedule, and that passengers with bookings do not need to act.

AviTrader, citing the company, reports that the plan is intended to strengthen financial stability, focus the route network and improve operational efficiency. It says the carrier will operate a smaller fleet of Airbus A220-300 aircraft and rely more on year-round ACMI partnerships, under which one airline supplies aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance to another. The company says the changes are meant to preserve reliable connectivity for Latvia and the wider Baltic region while aligning its cost base with its future size.

The union's objections

The sharpest public reaction has come from Dace Kavasa, who chairs the Latvian Aviation Trade Union. According to AeroCorner's account of her remarks to the Latvian public broadcaster LSM, she said the union learned of the plan from the media and had not received the written details that law requires during consultation. Aviación al Día, summarising her comments to Reuters, reports that she strongly criticised the approach, said she learned of the layoff figures only minutes before the employee meeting where they were announced, and said management had rejected a worker counterproposal for an 85 percent part-time arrangement. She said formal consultations would begin on 15 October.

Those accounts are the union's position, and airBaltic's own description of the process differs in emphasis: the company says it is already consulting unions on reduced workloads and organisational structure. Reports in the days since the announcement have also described disagreements over some of the proposed selection criteria. None of the outlets read for this article carried a detailed airBaltic reply to the specific union complaints.

The procedural frame is the EU collective redundancies directive. AeroCorner reports that airBaltic has notified Latvia's State Employment Agency, and Bloomberg, as summarised by AeroXplorer, says the same notification covers the process in Latvia. Under the directive, notified layoffs cannot take effect until at least 30 days after the competent authority is informed, and employers must consult worker representatives. National authorities can shorten or extend that window.

The fleet plan behind the numbers

The workforce range follows from a fleet and capacity reduction set out in August. Aviation Week, reporting on 11 August, said the A220-300 fleet would fall from 54 aircraft to about 36 by the end of 2026, then grow gradually to 40 aircraft by the end of the decade. That compares with a previous target of 100 aircraft by 2030. The magazine said the airline had 40 further A220-300s on order, per the CAPA fleet database.

On the network, Aviation Week reported that Riga would remain the primary hub under a demand-driven strategy favouring frequency and depth over new destinations, with secondary bases offering selected point-to-point services and tactical, seasonal flying used to lift utilisation. It cited scheduled capacity falling 9.4 percent, from 9.6 billion available seat-kilometres in 2026 to 8.7 billion in 2027, before recovering to 10.5 billion by 2031. It also reported projected revenue of about 900 million euros in 2026 and 800 million in 2027, and said the airline operated 21 aircraft for Lufthansa Group in summer 2026 under ACMI contracts.

A September report by ch-aviation on the court's first-day ruling added that the airline was in talks with Airbus to cancel or defer deliveries on 40 aircraft, an order valued at 3.5 billion dollars, and was considering a similar arrangement with Pratt & Whitney for 106.7 million dollars of engines. Fliegerfaust, in its own review of the filings, stresses that these are stated intentions rather than confirmed cancellations. It also reports that the airline intends to honour leases on four A220s held through lessor Avation, whose leases run to 2030 and 2031, though that reflects the lessor's stated understanding rather than a court guarantee.

The Chapter 11 backdrop

airBaltic and certain subsidiaries filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on 14 September. Skift, reporting on the filing, listed the pressures behind it as weak liquidity even after an April state loan, higher fuel costs linked to Middle East tensions, lingering pandemic and Ukraine-war effects, engine problems, a 70 million euro net loss in the first quarter of 2026 and repeatedly delayed plans for a share offering. The carrier said flights, ticket sales and customer service would continue, and that management and supervisory boards would remain in place. The process is expected to run until around June 2027; Fliegerfaust notes that this is management's target, not a court deadline.

The court approved first-day relief on an interim basis on 16 September, according to ch-aviation, including a 350 million euro debtor-in-possession financing package, equivalent to 404 million dollars. The first tranche gave immediate access to 140 million euros. ch-aviation reported total debt and finance lease liabilities across the debtors of about 583 million dollars, and said the airline would continue to pay wages, honour customer and critical supplier obligations and pay taxes and fees as usual.

Fliegerfaust adds detail on the financing: it was arranged by Strategic Value Partners with Barclays, Hayfin, Morgan Stanley and Oaktree also participating, at a floating rate of SOFR plus eight percentage points. It reports that the airline confirmed receipt of 140 million euros on 21 September, that the approved first tranche totals 175 million euros, and that the remaining 35 million depends on final court approval. As that outlet puts it, the money buys time without completing the rescue.

The largest unsecured claims, per ch-aviation, are Pratt & Whitney at 66.5 million dollars, several Latvian state enterprises, and EU emissions trading payments of 42.4 million dollars. Pratt & Whitney engine issues had already forced the airline to cancel 4,670 summer flights in January 2025, Fliegerfaust recalls, although it says the filings do not quantify how much engine disruption contributed to the bankruptcy.

What to watch

Three dates and decisions will shape the outcome. Mid-October is the target for the new organisational structure covering the non-flying parts of the company. The union says formal consultations begin on 15 October. After the redundancy notification, the 30-day minimum before any dismissal can take effect runs from the date the authorities were informed, unless national authorities decide otherwise.

Beyond the labour process, the court calendar and the Airbus and Pratt & Whitney negotiations remain open. The reports do not give a next hearing date, and the cancellations of the 40 undelivered aircraft are described as under discussion. The airline says its schedule is unaffected for now, while some outlets report that sizeable network reductions are planned toward summer 2027.

Sources

• Reuters, via Capital.com, "airBaltic plans to cut up to 700 jobs", 5 October 2026
• ch-aviation, "airBaltic plans to cut 500 to 700 jobs", 6 October 2026; and "US court approves airBaltic Chapter 11 relief request", 16 September 2026
• AviTrader, "airBaltic plans up to 700 job cuts as it reshapes business", 6 October 2026
• AeroCorner, "airBaltic Plans to Cut Up to 700 Jobs as Its Chapter 11 Restructuring Shrinks the Airline"
• Aviación al Día, "airBaltic Prepares to Lay Off Up to 700 Employees as Part of Chapter 11 Restructuring", October 2026
• AeroXplorer, "AirBaltic to Cut Up to 700 Jobs in Restructuring"
• Journal de l'Aviation, "airBaltic announces a reduction of approximately 20% in its workforce", 9 October 2026
• TRAVEL Extra, "Ailing AirBaltic proposes 500 job cuts in scramble to save airline", 6 October 2026
• Aviation Week, "AirBaltic To Cut A220 Fleet In Riga-Centered Restructure", 11 August 2026
• Fliegerfaust, "airBaltic Chapter 11: 350 million euros and an A220 reset"
• Skift, "AirBaltic Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection as Financial Pressures Mount", 14 September 2026