Latvia's flag carrier airBaltic runs one of the most unusual fleets in Europe: nothing but the Airbus A220-300, a narrowbody most people associate with short regional hops. Yet the same jet, in the same 148-seat, 2-3 layout, flies some of the longest routes ever scheduled on the type.

Its longest route by time has been Riga to Dubai, up to five times weekly and taking as long as seven hours 30 minutes. By pure distance, the record goes to a seasonal winter 2023 link from Tampere in Finland to Tenerife South — 2,562 nautical miles (about 2,948 miles), which actually exceeds the 2,471-nautical-mile commercial range airBaltic itself lists for the jet.

The Dubai service is currently off the map. It was suspended after the conflict involving Iran began, and in late September the airline confirmed it will stay suspended through the coming winter, citing the regional situation and airspace restrictions on the routings normally used. At the other extreme, the same aircraft works the 40-minute hop from Riga to Palanga in Lithuania, just 111 nautical miles. Running a single type keeps things simple: one pilot training pool, shared spares, easy crew swaps.

For winter, airBaltic is adding 12 new routes, with new service from Gran Canaria to Katowice, Liège, Poznan and Warsaw, and from Kuusamo in Finnish Lapland to Berlin, Hamburg, Gatwick, Manchester and Riga. Tenerife South becomes a seasonal base with flights to Liège, Ljubljana and Palanga.

Longer term there's a squeeze coming: next summer the airline plans 78 destinations from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, down from 112 this past summer, and will temporarily cut the fleet to 36 aircraft as it works through financial difficulties before rebuilding later in the decade. The A220-300 stays at the centre of it all.

For travellers, this matters in practical ways. If you're flying sun routes from northern or eastern Europe — the Canaries, Tenerife — or heading to Lapland in ski season, you may well end up on an A220-300. It's a modern, quiet jet with no middle seats on one side of the aisle, reasonable legroom by low-cost standards, and enough range that long sectors don't feel like a regional compromise.