Airport, Latvia, Transport

Riga Airport is currently significantly changing its policy – as of November 2009, airBaltic and Ryanair will lose their 80% discount at the airport and thus also a key competitive advantage over other airlines.

As Peters points out in an interview to the business information Web site "Nozare.lv", the two main questions that will arise for the airlines will be about how to survive competition and retain profitability, writes LETA.

"Profitability does not always go hand in hand with the development budget, however, the previous tariffs allowed to expect certain profit. airBaltic and Ryanair understand very well that in order to escape reproaches about competition distortion, change has to take place. Reiterated criticism in the media does not benefit neither the airport nor the image of the airline. In this case we have reached a compromise solution," the head of the airport underlines.

However, he does not exclude either the possibility that Ryanair could protest against the airport's ruling to no longer offer discounts. No confirmation about such information has been received yet, and it is possible that the airline will not take any action in this matter before November when the new fees will come into force.

"Taking in consideration the airline's aggressive business strategy, it could contest the increase of costs. So far, Ryanair has not given any clue about the willingness to leave Riga or to file suit. I believe that they will observe the overall market situation. I do not like litigation as a way of problem solving – it can be expensive and is not good business practice. I believe we will manage to jointly find a solution," Peters points out.