Airport, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Transport

Krisjanis Peters.

Once phases five and six of the airport's development are accomplished, Riga Airport's area will expand fourfold, and it will be able to serve 12 million passengers a year, leaving Helsinki and Oslo airports behind, informs LETA.

The airport's current maximum serving capacity is five million passengers a year. This year, the number will be around four million passengers, Peters informed.

After the completion of all development phases, the total area of the airport will be almost 140,000 square meters and commercial space will be 30,000 square meters. The airport terminal will become two times higher and will reach 26.5 meters. The existing terminal will be included in a single architectural ensemble of the airport, it will have a new shape and style, in fact a completely new airport will be constructed, Peters said.

Peters also notified that the new airport building will have a business lounge, automated luggage system with barcodes, moving walkways, parking space for 9,100 vehicles and better accessibility for people in wheelchairs.

The airport will be environmentally-conscious, solar energy will be widely used, and there will be separate recyclable waste disposal containers and green areas.

Peters emphasized that the development project envisages an uninterrupted development of the airport, which would allow the airport to serve 20 million passengers in the future. A new terminal and an additional runway will have to be constructed in order to reach this goal.

It is planned that the first results of the development projects will become visible in three to five years time.

Member of Riga International Airport's board Ervins Butkevics explained that construction will be started by the end of next year.

According to unofficial estimates, the airport's development phases five and six, and the reconstruction of the current terminal could cost approximately LVL 200 million.