Latvia, Lithuania, Transport

As reported, flyLAL has turned to Vilnius Court with a lawsuit against airBaltic and the Riga International Airport, accusing them of violating laws on fair competition, which allegedly caused the Lithuanian airline a loss of LVL 40 million. The court issued an order to arrest the properties of airBaltic and Riga Airport, except for the bank accounts as it would impede the companies’ business activity.

“All that is because the flyLAL owners are on the verge of bankruptcy, and because of their enormous debts,” said Slesers. “We refused to take over the Lithuanian airline, and they, understanding that no one else would be interested in buying flyLAL, started looking for other ways out”.

Slesers believes that flyLAL will go bankrupt in winter if the airline fails to find new investors, which, given the current economic crisis, will be very difficult to do.

The Estonian airline Estonian Air is also facing bankruptcy, Slesers said, explaining that the problems at flyLAL and Estonian Air have been caused by their reliance on local travelers, while the Riga Airport, already four years ago, made the decision to develop into an international air transport center.

“The demand for airline services has been falling in Latvia too, yet passengers who use transfers at the Riga Airport ensure stable growth of the airport,” said Slesers, adding that the airport’s extended runway will be opened today, which will make it possible for aircraft of any type to land in Riga, except “Airbus A-380”. It means that, after visa-free travel between Latvia and the United States comes into force, Riga-New York flights will commence, which will further consolidate the positions of Riga at the international market, Slesers said.