Latvia’s national airline airBaltic has asked a US court to approve the hiring of financial advisory group Seabury, according to documents the carrier filed. The terms set a monthly fee of €250,000 and success payments for raising finance and for other restructuring transactions. The court has not approved the application. A hearing is scheduled for Monday, 19 October.
The documents say Seabury has provided investment-banking and financial advisory services in the restructuring since March 2026. On top of the monthly fee, success compensation is envisaged for raising finance, restructuring debt, restructuring the fleet and contracts, raising new capital and other deals. After the monthly fees set out in the documents are counted, total success pay must not exceed €18 million.
One example is a fee of 2.25% of any new debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan. LETA calculates that if the full €350 million DIP facility were used, the fee for arranging it would reach about €7.9 million. Seabury is also due 1.15% of financed and trade debt that is converted into airBaltic equity or otherwise cancelled during the restructuring. A 3% fee applies to new capital, though money provided by the Latvian government is excluded. Structuring and negotiating a commercial agreement with a strategic partner that supplies new capital or a loan — for example a joint venture or an expanded codeshare — carries a fee of €1 million.
Hourly rates for liquidity-management services run from $350 to $1,490. Caps on those fees are $325,000 for September, $225,000 for October and $75,000 in each following month. In the 90 days before the Chapter 11 case, airBaltic paid Seabury $872,715 in fees and $144,531 in expense reimbursements.
airBaltic has also asked the court to approve law firm Milbank. Milbank has worked on a possible restructuring of the airline since April 2026. In the year before the Chapter 11 filing it received $6.64 million, plus a further $100,000 advance. The filing publishes Milbank’s rates, including $745 to $1,820 an hour for associates.
On 2 October this year the airline hired US business consultancy Riveron RTS to help prepare a restructuring plan, administer creditor claims and prepare financial reports for the court. The filing says the firm will help draw up lists of assets and liabilities, build a creditor-claims database, prepare monthly court reports, draft the restructuring plan, prepare financial forecasts and assess which contracts should be kept and which ended.
LETA has already reported that airBaltic has begun restructuring its financial liabilities under the US Chapter 11 procedure. The airline has a binding commitment from financiers for up to €350 million in new DIP funding to support liquidity and operations during the case. It has received a first tranche of €140 million, of which €78.925 million will be used to buy out eight aircraft and seven engines.
SVP arranged the financing, which Barclays, Hayfin Capital Management, Morgan Stanley, Oaktree Capital Management and Strategic Value Partners have committed to provide. The interest rate is SOFR plus 8%, currently about 12%, with additional fees of up to €52.5 million. An earlier plan to raise up to €257 million from bondholders at an annual rate of 25% will not be carried out. A bondholder group, the Ad Hoc Group, has filed objections in court to the DIP terms and to the possible effect on bondholders’ security.
Chapter 11 protects airBaltic from creditor claims until the restructuring is complete. The company says flights and customer service will continue as usual, the planned schedule will be flown, existing tickets and bookings remain valid, and passengers can keep buying tickets and travelling with airBaltic. The outcome is expected to be a reorganisation plan that the court must approve. The process could end in mid-2027.
Group turnover last year rose 4.2% compared with 2024, to €779.344 million. The group loss was €44.337 million, 2.7 times smaller than in 2024. In 2025 the airline carried 5.2 million passengers, 1% more than in 2024.
Last summer Germany’s national airline Lufthansa became a shareholder. The Latvian state now owns 88.37% of airBaltic, Lufthansa 10%, Aircraft Leasing 1 — a company of Danish entrepreneur Lars Thuesen — 1.62%, and other holders 0.01%. Share capital is €41.819 million.