EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Good for Business, Latvia, Transport

Martin Gauss, airBaltic Chief Executive Officer: “airBaltic has been ranked among TOP 10 most innovative airlines globally. Introducing the Bitcoin payment option is a part of our innovative approach to service with a central focus on our customer.”

airBaltic accepts Bitcoin as payment for tickets on its website www.airbaltic.com. The ticket prices on the website are displayed in euros. When airBaltic customers pay for their flight, their Bitcoins are converted into euros at the current exchange rate. To make accepting Bitcoin possible, airBaltic teamed up with Bitpay, a third-party payment processor that converts Bitcoins into euros. The Bitcoin payment option is available when purchasing the cheapest tickets, known as airBaltic Basic class.

Bitcoin is a software-based payment system introduced in 2009. Payments are recorded in a public ledger and bitcoin is its unit of account. Bitcoin payments are accepted by such companies as WordPress.com, Overstock.com, Expedia, Dell, and others.

As announced recently, airBaltic achieved a net profit of EUR +1 million for the full year of 2013, one year ahead of the initial business turnaround schedule. airBaltic serves 60 destinations with direct flights from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these, airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.