DUSHANBE, October 26, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Tajikistan hopes that Latvian air company, AirBaltic, will resume flights to Dushanbe soon.

The Deputy Minister of transport and Communications, Farrukh Hamroyev, said AirBaltic suspended fights to Dushanbe in early autumn.

“The suspension is connected with bankruptcy of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) that assumed the 47.2 percent in AirBaltic,” said Hamroyev.  “Aircraft that were used to operate flights to Dushanbe belonged to SAS.  AirBaltic is currently seeking ways to resume the Riga-Dushanbe flight.  Most likely, they will lease aircraft.”

We will recall that the air route between Dushanbe and Riga was launched on June 1, 2009.  It was a twice-weekly service – the flights were operated on Mondays and Fridays.

A/S Air Baltic Corporation, operating as AirBaltic, is the Latvian flag carrier airline and a low-cost carrier, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in the capital, Riga.  Its main hub is at Riga International Airport with secondary hubs at Vilnius International Airport and Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport.  On September 23, 2010 AirBaltic made an announcement to establish a new secondary hub at Oulu Airport.

The airline was established on August 28, 1995 with the signing of a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and the Latvian state.  Operations started on October 1, 1995 with the arrival of the first Air Baltic aircraft, a Saab 340, at Riga, and that afternoon, the plane made the first passenger flight for Air Baltic.

AirBaltic operates 72 direct flights from Riga (some of them are seasonal), 13 from Vilnius, 7 from Tallinn, as well as non-stop flights on the routes Bergen–Stavanger, Kuopio–Tampere, Kuopio–Lappeenranta, Kuusamo–Lappeenranta, Oulu–Turku, Oulu–Stockholm, Rovaniemi–Tampere, Vaasa–Umea.

As of June 2010, the AirBaltic fleet include 8 Boeing 7373-300, 9 Boeing 737-500, 2 Boeing 757-200, 2 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, and 10 Fokker 50.