Statements by Tomas Peterson, who has experience in the Estonian aviation industry, that Latvian national airline airBaltic is approaching financial collapse are exaggerated, according to interviewed Latvian experts in finance and asset management. Girts Rungainis, a partner at the consulting company Prudentia, noted that these statements are aimed at attracting attention with the obvious goal of causing panic or reducing the value of the company. In his opinion, this is understandable, since negotiations are currently underway with potential investors and possibly new co-owners, and the company is preparing to go public. "Considering that Estonia itself and Tallinn Airport greatly benefit from the work of airBaltic, these statements from an Estonian aviation expert are incomprehensible," Rungainis emphasized. In his opinion, airBaltic is a fundamentally good business that is needed by Latvia and the Baltics, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the company has found itself in a relatively difficult situation. However, Rungainis stressed that the situation is improving. "The fact that the first half-year results show losses may cause hysteria among those who do not understand, but I would say that this is a normal part of the development of this company. Of course, everything is not perfect, we would like to see the company earn a billion euros every five minutes, but in real life we see that the situation is getting better," the expert said. Chairman of the Board of the asset management company INVL Asset Management Andrey Martynov also noted that the statement about the financial collapse of airBaltic is a bit exaggerated. He explained that this is confirmed by the market situation, namely what is happening with airBaltic bonds on the secondary international bond market, where there was no categorical reaction after the publication of the half-year report. In his opinion, the situation is not very joyful. Since it can be concluded that in the first half of the year, including the second quarter, there were several negative external factors – not dependent on the business model itself. At the same time, Martynov noted that he currently does not see a threat of financial collapse for the company. Commenting on the possible initial public offering (IPO) of airBaltic in the second half of this year, he said that the chances remain. Since half of the company's losses were caused by external factors. At the same time, there are several positive indicators in the company's performance indicators, which are the highest in the history of the airline. According to Martynov, there is not enough time to evaluate the IPO. "Accordingly, consultants with experience and seeing the situation from both the external (investors) and internal (operational data of the company) sides play a major role. If airBaltic continues to see prospects for this step, the company will move in this direction," Martynov added. Earlier, Estonian aviation expert Petersons said that airBaltic is approaching financial collapse, and the Latvian government will have to make decisions on further actions. In his opinion, airBaltic is a rather old-fashioned model of a national airline, requiring significant investments, and the airline is not expected to be profitable in the near future. It was also reported that airBaltic suffered a loss of EUR 88.8 million in the first half of this year, compared to a profit in the same period last year. The Latvian state owns 97.97% of airBaltic shares, while the financial investor, Danish entrepreneur Lars Thusen, owns 2.03%.
