The Latvian government decided on Friday that the initial public offering (IPO) of airBaltic will take place before the end of this year. Currently, the Latvian state owns 97.97 percent of the company's shares, but after the IPO, the state will retain 25 percent of the shares, according to lsm.lv.

The IPO process will occur concurrently with negotiations with a strategic investor, Latvian Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens said, without specifying who the strategic investor might be. It is also not yet known what percentage of the company the strategic investor plans to acquire.

Briškens assured "Aktuaalne kaamera" that a stake of at least 25 percent plus one share would be sufficient to safeguard Latvia's interests.

"We will ensure that the airline's main base remains at Riga Airport, and that the company continues to develop flight connections for both Latvia and the other Baltic states. This must be guaranteed regardless of who the investors will be," he said.

Currently, in addition to the Latvian state, airBaltic's other shareholder is Aircraft Leasing 1, which owns 2.03 percent of the shares and is owned by Danish businessman Lars Thuesen.

The Latvian state has been planning airBaltic's listing on the stock exchange for years, but until now, the economic conditions were not considered favorable.

AirBaltic posted a loss of €88.8 million in the first half of this year.

The airline's CEO Martin Gauss said in an interview with "Aktuaalne kaamera" last week that when evaluating airBaltic's financial performance, one should not focus solely on the large loss figure, but rather consider the bigger picture, which shows that the airline's passenger numbers and revenue are continuously increasing.

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