airBaltic signs long-term agreement with SAS Flight Academy

airBaltic and SAS Flight Academy has entered into a 5-year long training agreement. SAS Flight Academy will be the exclusive provider of all pilot and cabin crew training for airBaltic on the B737 and F50 aircraft types. Training will be carried out under the SAS Flight Academy TRTO.

The Latvian based airBaltic will perform their ground and cabin crew training at SAS Flight Academy's fourth training centre, currently under construction at Riga airport. Until the training center is completed the training will take place in a temporary facility located at Riga airport in Latvia. While awaiting the B737 CL Full Flight Simulator to arrive, airBaltic will continue B737 CL pilot training at the Stockholm-Arlanda site. The F50 training will remain in Stockholm. "I'm very happy that we successfully negotiated this new agreement with airBaltic. They will be our launch customer at our new facilities in Riga and we are very pleased that they will do all their crew training at SAS Flight Academy", says Hans O Andersson, Key Account Manager, SAS Flight Academy AB. airBaltic has been a customer at SAS Flight Academy since 1995, the same year airBaltic started their operation. The fleet consists of seven B737-500 and nine F50 aircraft. SAS AB owns 47 % of the company. For more information please contact Hans Andersson, Key Account Manager, SAS Flight Academy AB; Mobile phone: +46 709 97 54 40, E-mail: hasse.andersson@sas.se or Pauls Calitis, Senior Vice President, airBaltic. Mobile phone: +371 922 28 68 and E-mail: pcs@airbaltic.lv SAS Flight Academy is one of the most respected flight academies in the world, serving some 150 airlines, military and government organizations fom all continents with a broad offering of customized training programs for pilots and cabin crews at three fully equipped training centers. Our state-of-the-art training capability includes 16 Full Flight Simulators for 14 different aircraft types. Nearly all our instructors are active pilots or cabin crew, carefully selected for their extensive experience and excellent training skills. Founded in 1946 SAS Flight Academy is an authorized Type Rating Training Organization (TRTO) in accordance with JAR-FCL, and holds ISO 9001 certificaion. AIR BALTIC CORPORATION (airBaltic) is a joint-stock company founded in 1995. The main shareholders are the Latvian state (52.6%) andairline SAS AB (47.2%). In 2005, airBaltic carried 1.04 million passengers. Currently, airBaltic operates direct flights from two Baltic capitals: Riga and Vilnius. From Riga, airBaltic flies to Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dnepropetrovsk, Dublin, Hamburg, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kiev, London, Manchester, Milan, Minsk, Moscow, Munich, Odessa, Oslo, Paris, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vienna and Vilnius. In spring 2006 airBaltic plans to open direct flights from Riga to Düsseldorf, Simferopol, Bergen ,Baku, Tbilisi and Warsaw. From Vilnius, airBaltic ofers direct flights to Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Munich, Oslo, Riga, Tallinn and Vienna. In spring 2006 airBaltic plans to open direct flights from Vilnius to Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Budapest and Warsaw. The airBaltic fleet currently consists of sixteen aircraft: seven Boeing 737-500s and nine Fokker-50s