Martin Gauss says he lost trust in the Latvian government
Operations Chief Pauls Calitis takes over Interim CEO
Airline says target remains unchanged and there is still potential IPO
(Update with outgoing Airbaltic CEO)
Tim Hepher and Joanna Plucinska
LONDON, April 7 (Reuters) – The outgoing Airbaltic boss said he was suddenly ousted on Monday and was surprised by the Latvian government’s “disgusting” handling of leaving his departure, but hoped that cleared the airline’s growth strategy.
Martin Gauss, the German, has been in the position of CEO since 2011. He was accused of helping the airline launch its initial public offering, which was repeatedly delayed.
“I lost the trust of the government. They were not happy with the results last year,” Gauss told Reuters on a phone call after the airline suddenly announced his resignation.
He said the board read a statement saying they lost confidence in him at the shareholders’ meeting.
The airline recently sold a 10% stake to German airline Lufthansa as it said it struggled with delays in engine delivery and tried to postpone its planned IPO until 2026.
“Our core goals remain the same, and Airbaltic continues to execute its strategy and move towards a potential IPO.”
Gauss told Reuters that this was the sixth Latvian government he dealt with and that he was fighting the most recent Latvian government.
In a statement, the company said in a statement that current chief operating officer Pauls Calitis will take over as interim CEO.
“I really hope it’s politics, and now it helps the company… (So) they can get into that future that I envisioned for it,” Gauss said. (Edited by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)
