AirBaltic was an early adopter of the Airbus A220, back when it was the Bombardier CSeries. The aircraft is perfectly designed for the Baltic carrier's missions, and CEO Martin Gauss is enthusiastic about the model. He took a few minutes to talk to Skift Airline Weekly editor Madhu Unnikrishnan and Skift Senior Aviation Business Editor Brian Sumers at the IATA Annual General Meeting in Seoul in June.

Gauss said for now AirBaltic's focus is on its region of Latvia and neighboring countries, and the airline has no plans to establish bases in Western Europe. Gauss, however, pointed to the example of Finnair, which, like AirBaltic, has a small home population but outsize international traffic. This is the kind of operation he thinks AirBaltic can grow into.

Listen for the full interview with AirBaltic CEO Martin Gauss: