Airliner World’s Craig West talks to airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss about the Latvian carrier’s initial experience with its new Bombardier C Series.
In the Spotlight
Interview with a senior executive in the airline industry.
AW: You were an early adopter of the C Series and launch customer for the CS300 model. What were your initial experiences with the type, and how are you expanding your operations.
MG: We’ve had the CS300 in service for more than a year now and have carried over one million passengers with the aircraft, so we’ve had a lot of customer feedback, which has been overwhelming compared to the other types we fly. It’s certainly been the biggest learning experience for us – passengers are looking at details such as cabin comfort, noise level and air quality on board. The large cabin windows have proven especially popular – we live in a country with long winters so natural light is something we really appreciate!
We’re also seeing significantly faster boarding times, driven mainly by the wider aisle [when compared with other types], bigger overhead bins and only one middle seat rather than two [the CS300 features a five-abreast layout in a 2+3 configuration], all of which speed up the turnaround …