Airport, Good for Business, Latvia, Markets and Companies
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Friday, 19.04.2024, 21:48
Riga Airport Welcomes Its 60 Millionth Passenger
Swedish
scientist Curt Almquist from Uppsala
Science Park visited Riga to take part in a scientific conference on forestry
matters.
Riga
Airport welcomed its 60 millionth passenger with a red carpet and a guard of
honour made by dance group "Daiļrade", a symbolic dance by Riga
French Lyceum dance group "Auseklītis" and gifts - a special design
travel suitcase and RIX Club loyalty
card. The national airline airBaltic
presented Curt Almquist with a voucher for a flight in business class, while
Airport's partners TAV Airports Holding representative
in Latvia SIA TAV Latvia and holding subsidiary company AS Riga Airport Commercial Development (ATU
Duty Free), represented by Regional Manager Hakan Uzunosmanoglu, greeted the lucky passenger with gift baskets
and a gift card.
"The
aviation industry is among those sectors, which year by year make Latvia more
visible on the world map. It plays a major role in economic development in
today's global economy. Since the restoration of the country's independence, we
have reached the threshold of 60 million passengers, which demonstrates
that we have taken ambitious steps towards growth of the Airport. Consequently,
I can safely assure you that today we can single out and appreciate the Airport
as one of the success stories of Latvia to be proud of," in his speech
said Uldis Augulis, Minister for
Transport.
"Every
hour, Riga International Airport serves more than 600 passengers - an average
of 18 000 passengers a day, almost half a million passengers a month.
Latest data show that this year already 1.4 million passengers have used Riga
Airport for their travel, which is 5% more than last year. The Airport is
developing steadily and purposefully. What is important is that not only our
passenger figures are increasing; also the route network is expending and
connectivity improving, and consequently also the number of such passengers is
increasing who use Riga Airport as an air traffic hub to travel to more distant
destinations in Asia, Europe and Scandinavia," says Ilona Līce, Chairperson of the Board of Riga International Airport.
Martin Gauss, CEO of the national airline: “airBaltic will accelerate the passenger
growth at Rīga airport even further – we are adding 12 new routes this summer and +15% more tickets on
sale. Our customers in Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East will
mainly see this as more cheap tickets available for their travel to exciting
new destinations for leisure and business.”
As reported
before, in the first quarter of the year, Riga International Airport handled
more than 1.13 mln passengers. In the first weeks of April, passenger figures
increased by 268.6 thousand, reaching 1 401 575 passengers, which is
5% more than in the corresponding period of the previous year. The transit and
transfer passenger traffic grew by 11%, amounting to 26% of the total number of
passengers.
This summer
flight season 89 destinations will be available to passengers travelling from
Riga Airport. The widest range of new destinations will be opened by the
national airline airBaltic. The
carrier will supplement its network of destinations with flights to Tampere
(Finland), Odessa (Ukraine), Kazan (Russia), Aberdeen (United Kingdom),
Stavanger (Norway), Geneva (Switzerland), Catania (Italy), Liepāja (Latvia),
Madrid (Spain) and Gothenburg (Sweden).
As of 25
June, low-cost airline Wizzair will
operate two new services twice weekly: to Reykjavik (Iceland) and Bari (Italy).
In turn, Scandinavian Air System
(SAS) since 26 March offers 12 flights weekly to Copenhagen (Denmark).
A new
airline - Russia's largest regional air carrier RusLine - will open its service from Riga Airport and operate
flights from Riga to Moscow Domodedovo Airport. Ellinair, in turn, will offer charter flights to Heraklion, the
capital of Crete.
Altogether
17 carriers operate flights from Riga Airport: airBaltic, Ryanair, WizzAir, Aeroflot, SAS, Finnair, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Lufthansa,
LOT Polish Airlines, Utair, Turkish Airlines, Ukraine
International Airlines, RusLine, Uzbekistan Airways, Belavia, Ellinair and Smartlynx Airlines.
Riga
International Airport is the largest
air traffic hub in the Baltics. The 20 airlines operating at Riga Airport offer
more than 60 destinations in the winter season and more than 80 in the summer
season. In 2016, Riga Airport handled over 5.6 mln passengers - nearly 45% of
the entire Baltic air passenger traffic.