Four candidates have been selected for the third round of the competition for the position of CEO of Latvia’s national airline “airBaltic,” Minister of Transport Atis Švinka (Progressives) said in an interview with Latvian Radio on Tuesday.
He noted that the second round of the competition concluded on Monday, the 21st of July, with eight applicants participating, and four have advanced to the next stage.
According to Švinka, the third round will take place at the beginning of August.
When asked whether the next CEO of “airBaltic” will receive the same salary as the former head of the airline, Švinka stated that the remuneration would be lower. “The directive is that the salary must be different – competitive within the industry, but significantly lower than [former airBaltic CEO Martin] Gauss’s,” the minister said.
As previously reported by LETA, the nomination committee initially reviewed more than 40 applications from nearly 30 countries for the position. Eight candidates were selected for the second round.
The second stage of the selection process included in-depth interviews evaluating the candidates’ experience
and management competencies, as well as personality assessments and other evaluation criteria.
LETA also reported that the public notice for the competition, published on the 30th of April, 2025, did not specify the intended salary for the position. However, the airBaltic supervisory board previously indicated that salary discussions would be individualized with the selected candidate. In 2024, the former CEO Martin Gauss received a salary of 838,568 euros.
Until the competition concludes, the airline continues to be led by its current interim CEO and Chief Operating Officer Pauls Cālītis.
On the 7th of April of this year, the airBaltic supervisory board decided to dismiss the company’s Chairman of the Board and CEO Martin Gauss, who had held the position since the 1st of November, 2011.
In 2024, the airBaltic group posted audited losses of 118.159 million euros, in contrast to a profit the previous year. However, the group’s turnover increased by 11.9% compared to 2023, reaching 747.572 million euros.
Currently, the Latvian state holds 97.97% of airBaltic shares,
while financial investor Lars Thuesen of Denmark owns 2.03% through Aircraft Leasing 1. However, on the 30th of June of this year, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office approved Lufthansa’s acquisition of a 10% stake in airBaltic.
The transaction could be completed within two months, airBaltic supervisory board chairman Andrejs Martinovs told LETA.
Following the initial public offering (IPO) of shares, Lufthansa Group’s stake will be determined by the potential IPO market price. The deal also stipulates that Lufthansa Group will own no less than 5% of airBaltic’s capital after the IPO.
Furthermore, on the 30th of August, 2024, the Latvian government agreed that the state must retain at least 25% plus one share of the company’s capital after the airBaltic IPO.
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