The national airline of Latvia “airBaltic” decided in favor of the purchase of twelve “Audi E-tron” on lease for the next three-year period, because it was not only environmentally friendly, but also the most economically advantageous offer, the airline claims.
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Transport Minister Jānis Wittenbergs (NA) has requested an explanation from the board of “airBaltic” regarding the purchase of the 2022 Audi e-tron electric car. Wittenberg states that he is not against the inclusion of electric cars in the company’s fleet, but he does not understand why it is necessary to purchase a luxury class electric car, especially at a time when society as a whole is experiencing financial difficulties.
In a letter sent to the Ministry of Transport, the airline explains that this car purchase transaction is not only economically justified and carefully evaluated, but also sustainable and part of a much wider decarbonization of aviation, which applies to both airplanes and any cars used by the airline. In October 2022, the term of the lease, according to which “airBaltic” used cars with internal combustion engines, expired. Therefore, “airBaltic”, following the internal procedures for making purchases, announced a new tender for the purchase of leasing cars in good time.
At the end of 2021, as an additional measure to reduce energy consumption and compensate for carbon emissions, “airBaltic” had made a conceptual decision to gradually switch to the use of electric cars in its ground vehicle fleet. The airline has specifically addressed potential suppliers of electric cars. As stated in the letter, twelve potential car suppliers were approached within the procurement procedure and six offers were received.
“airBaltic” explains to the Ministry of Transport that the “Audi E-tron” offer is a promotion offered by the factory, including a discount of about 26% from the standard price, as well as predicting a very high repurchase value – about 67%.
As CEO Martins Gauss emphasized at an event held for the media this week, due to this special offer, the monthly payment is relatively small, namely 414 euros without VAT per car.
The leasing of one “Audi E-tron” for a period of three years costs “airBaltic” EUR 19,901.70 without VAT, the letter states.
Also, the airline emphasizes that the “Audi E-tron” transaction is not recognized as a luxury car purchase, “but is a standard corporate car leasing offer”.
When evaluating the “Audi E-tron” offer, “airBaltic” compared it with other submitted electric car offers, as well as with payments made for previously leased internal combustion engine (diesel) cars. It was concluded – “Audi E-tron” offers were not only the most economically advantageous among electric car leasing offers, but also cheaper than previously leased “Audi Q5″ internal combustion engine (diesel) cars”.
The Latvian state owns 97.97% of “airBaltic” shares, while “Aircraft Leasing 1” owned by the financial investor, Danish businessman Lars Tūsen, owns 2.03%.