Investors Seek to Take Over 18 airBaltic Aircraft and Lufthansa Contracts
Aviation entrepreneur Oleg Yevdokimov, representing European investors, proposes creating a new airline, ACMI Riga, to take over 18 airBaltic aircraft and its Lufthansa contracts. The offer has been passed to Latvia's Ministry of Transport, but the investors' identities and planned investment remain unknown.
Latvia's national airline airBaltic, which is trying to overcome a financial crisis, has received an offer to take over one of its most successful business lines: leasing aircraft with crews to other airlines. On 6 October, the financial information company Octus reported that a proposal from a group of European investors had been sent to Latvia's prime minister. It envisages a new airline, ACMI Riga, that would assume airBaltic's contracts with Germany's Lufthansa Group and 18 leased Airbus A220 aircraft used for these services. The initiator is aviation entrepreneur Oleg Yevdokimov, who reportedly represents several European investors. The new company could preserve up to 700 jobs. The offer has been handed to the Ministry of Transport for evaluation, but it is not yet known who the investors are or how much money they are prepared to invest.
What ACMI means
ACMI stands for Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance. Under this model airBaltic provides the aircraft, pilots, cabin crew, maintenance and insurance, while the customer, such as Lufthansa, sells the tickets and pays for the service. The Latvian state owns 88.37% of airBaltic, Lufthansa holds 10%, which is why the proposal was addressed to the government.
ACMI revenue in 2025 was 157.5 million euros, roughly a fifth of turnover. In the first half of 2026 it reached 98 million euros, with adjusted EBITDAR of 38.6 million euros and a margin of 39.4%. By comparison, airBaltic's own passenger network earned about 298 million euros, but its operating result was negative at minus 4.3 million euros.
Open questions
Lufthansa may use up to 21 airBaltic aircraft in summer and only up to five in winter. If the new company took over 18 aircraft, at least 13 would need other customers in winter, and none have been made public. All the aircraft are leased, so lessor approval would be needed. The new carrier would also have to obtain flight permits.
Since September, airBaltic has been under US court supervision through the Chapter 11 procedure. On 20 October the court gave final approval to financing of up to 350 million euros, of which 175 million is available initially. That money is unrelated to Yevdokimov's offer.
The Sukhoi link
Yevdokimov was previously involved in projects using Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, including those tied to Adria Airways and Air Italy; neither was carried out. In 2015, eleven years ago, the Latvian government added a clause to airBaltic's shareholder agreement barring the airline from buying Russian military-industrial products, including Sukhoi aircraft.
