Airport, Latvia, Transport

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Tuesday, 19.03.2024, 12:54

Expansion of Riga Airport would require EUR 78 million

Gleb Vasiljev, BC,Riga, 11.07.2012.Print version
EUR 78 million (LVL 54.8 million) investments would be necessary to expand the Riga International Airport, the airport's CEO Arnis Luhse pointed out in an interview with the newspaper Diena.

The the first stage would require to expand the airport's current terminal so that its capacity would increase to 7.5 million passengers per year, with the possibility of increasing it to ten million passengers, said Luhse.

 "EU statistics indicate that people tend to travel three times per year. Latvia develops and I believe that the airport will reach six million passengers per year. The Asian direction will become profitable in time and there will be transit passengers. By then, it will be too late to consider expanding," explained Luhse.

 Direct flights between China and Latvia could be developed if used by 20,000 to 30,000 people each year. At the moment, their numbers are at 4,000, said the airport's CEO.

 Luhse also predicted that the total number of passengers will exceed the previously planned 4.6 million and approach 5 million this year.

 He also pointed out that the airport was initially designed to service three million passengers and has been operating in a state of overload for a long time.

As reported, the Riga International Airport served 2.24 million passengers in the first six months this year, which is 5.9 percent less than in the first half of 2011.

 The number of flights from the Riga Airport reduced 4.2 percent.

 In June, the Riga Airport's passenger turnover totaled 473,260 - 11.1 percent down on June 2011, whereas the number of flights from the airport decreased 9.8 percent, reported NOZARE.LV/LETA.






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