Oct 5, 2026 · about 500 roles
Not linked to AIairBaltic, which is restructuring under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shrinking its fleet from 54 aircraft to 36 by the end of 2026, said on 5 October 2026 that its planned changes could affect about 500 to 700 positions at its bases in Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn, of roughly 3,000 staff; on 28 October it confirmed that about 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew face redundancy, the cabin crew cuts all at its Riga base, and said those numbers are not final and that it has not yet set the rest.
The reason airBaltic gave
The redundancies are "linked to the flight volume and route network planned for next year"; the reduction in the number of pilots will affect all three of its bases.airBaltic, in a statement to AeroTime on 29 October 2026 (the words in quotation marks are the airline's own; its 5 October statement, quoted by LSM, called the cuts "workforce adjustments" under its new business plan)
airBaltic's statements do not mention AI or automation, and no report read (AeroTime, LSM, ERR, LRT, RTÉ, Reuters via AOL) tied the cuts to AI; the coverage set them in the airline's bankruptcy restructuring after the Iran war doubled jet fuel prices.
Source: AeroTime: airBaltic to cut around 100 pilots and 200 cabin staff in latest savings drive. Checked Oct 31, 2026.