The Latvian airline, airBaltic, reported a profit of EUR 19 million for 2015. The company has become the largest air carrier in Estonia and the third largest in Lithuania in terms of number of passengers transported, ERR reports.

As reported, the Estonian national carrier, Estonian Air, ceased operations in November last year. The Estonian government created a new airline, Nordica, to replace it, but the lion's share of passenger traffic went to airBaltic.

In early May, airBaltic’s share capital increased by 131.150 million shares with the nominal value of EUR 1 per share and currently stands at EUR 256.5 million.

Following the increase of its share capital, the Latvian government now owns 80% of the shares in airBaltic and a new investor – the Aircraft Leasing 1 company, which is wholly owned by German national Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes – owns about 20%.

The aim of increasing airBaltic’s share capital is to strengthen the airline to enable it to renew its fleet and successfully implement its Horizon 2021 business plan.