Latvian carrier Air Baltic has been approved as maintenance training organisation to qualify aircraft technicians for its own operation and external customers.
The airline says it will run parallel classes for apprentices without previous aviation experiences and Airbus A220 type-rating courses for qualified engineers.
Familiarisation training is set to begin in early February. Each class will have eight places, Air Baltic says.
Noting the airline’s previous establishment of an in-house pilot academy and co-operation with local technical schools, Air Baltic chief operations officer Pauls Calitis describes the training programme as the next step in its development.
“We will now train Air Baltic technicians for work on the Airbus A220 ourselves and look forward to training technicians also from other airlines,” he states.
Instructors have been recruited from Air Baltic’s MRO staff.
The airline started base maintenance for its A220s in 2019, having previously outsourced such checks while concentrating on line maintenance. Its fleet also included Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400 turboprops at the time.
Prior to the pandemic, Air Baltic had a plan to operate an all-A220 fleet from 2023. The crisis accelerated the phase-out of the 737s and Q400s.
Cirium fleets data list two of Air Baltic’s 25 A220-300s and all its 12 Q400s as being in storage. The airline has another 25 A220-300s on order, and further commitments for up to 30 more.
