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PM sacks Latvian transport minister over airBaltic investor controversy

Xinhua, November 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma on Wednesday sacked transport minister Anrijs Matiss, accusing him of poor supervision of efforts to attract an investor for the airBaltic national carrier.

Straujuma's spokeswoman Aiva Rozenberga said the premier took the decision because of Matiss' failure to timely inform the government about developments concerning the airline's future and strategy.

"The minister has lost my confidence. In my view, the supervision of airBaltic has been unsatisfactory," Straujuma said.

After more than four hours of debate on Tuesday night, the Latvian government approved German businessman Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes as a financial investor for airBaltic.

Earlier, Matiss had described the potential investor as undesirable, citing alleged potential security risks.

Under the deal, the German investor would provide an estimated 50 million euros (54.5 million U.S. dollars) to the Latvian airline's capital and the government would inject another 80 million euros to ensure the company's future growth.

AirBaltic needs the money to pay for the new passenger aircraft ordered from Canadian company Bombardier.

AirBaltic, established in 1995, is 99.8 percent-owned by the Latvian state and operates over 60 routes from its home base in Riga. Endit