Airport, Latvia, Tourism, Transport

Compared with the flight schedule in the winter season of 2008/2009, the number of regular flights has grown.

Last winter there were 500 regular flights on average whereas this year the average number of flights will increase to 560.

Despite the slump in the global aviation traffic, the Riga Airport this winter season promises its passengers a vast and convenient choice of flights in terms of geography and regularity, Langrats said.

Krisjanis Peters, Riga Airport Chairman of the Board, said: "Due to the difficult situation in the aviation industry many airlines in the winter season choose to decrease the frequency of flights and the number of routes whereas the airlines Ryanair and airBaltic step up their operations in Riga. It shows the strength of these airlines and the invariable attraction of Riga as a tourism and business destination and a convenient transit point for further travel."

In the new winter season Ryanair will offer additional flights to the East Midlands (in total – three times a week), Glasgow (in total – three times a week) and Brussels (in total – four times a week). There will be two additional flights in the winter season to Liverpool (in total – four times a week) and Milan (in total – five times a week).

Ryanair will also provide four additional flights from Riga to the capital of Ireland – Dublin – ensuring daily traffic to this destination.

At the same time, the national carrier airBaltic, compared with last winter's schedule, now offers new direct flights to Turku (Finland), Tromso (Norway), Palanga and Kaunas (Lithuania), Geneva (Switzerland), Tartu (Estonia), Warsaw (Poland), Frankfurt (Germany), Pskov (Russia), Dushanbe (Tajikistan). On some routes the number of flights will be increased to satisfy the demands of winter season travelers. There will be more flights to Tartu, Olesunna, Oulu, Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, Moscow, Vienna, Rome, Barcelona, Kuopio, Tampere, Turku, and Pskov.

This winter airBaltic will commence flights to one more new destination – Lapeennranta in Finland.

In the winter season of 2009/2010 the following airlines will operate at the Riga Airport: airBaltic, SmartLynx, Lufthansa, Finnair, Ryanair, LOT, Czech Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot and Uzbekistan Airways.