On 2 November 2011 the Irish low-fare airline Ryanair opened a new route from Riga International Airport to Leeds (Bradford). To celebrate opening of the new route, a special cake was made for the passengers of the inaugural flight.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air on 9 December opened a new route from Riga International Airport to Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands. The carrier will operate flights to this destination twice a week: on Mondays and Fridays.
Starting from 1 January 2012 the departing passengers of the airline Ryanair will pay a security charge of 7 euros* prior to their departure from Riga International Airport.**
On 27 October 2011 the airline Lufthansa looked back on twenty years of flights to and from Riga International Airport. In honour of this milestone Riga Airport gave a special welcome to the Lufthansa aircraft and passengers as well as congratulated the staff of the carrier’s Riga office.
On 21 December 2011 Riga International Airport broke the record of passenger traffic per calendar year and welcomed the airport’s five-millionth passenger Ms Dace Dižbite-Ose, arriving at 10:30 a.m. on an airBaltic flight from Oslo.
Riga International Airport in 2011 welcomed 5.1 million passengers or 9.5 percent more than in 2010 when it had provided services to 4.66 million passengers.
In December 2011 the privilege programme of Riga International Airport RIX Club was enriched by a new attractive offer – to use the business lounge free of charge five times during the validity term of the RIX Club membership card.
Riga Airport in January invites its new and regular clients to leave their cars in the long-term car park P3 and enjoy a cup of coffee free of charge in any of the duty-free area cafes: Pascucci, Pizza Bar, Costa Coffee, Laima or Buffet. Coupons for a cup of coffee (one coupon per parked car) are available at the car park operator’s office. The offer will be valid until the end of January.
In September the airport in its status of a state-owned company VAS „Starptautiskā lidosta „Rīga”” celebrated its 20th anniversary. The airport has developed together with the restored independence of Latvia whereas another event - the 40th anniversary of the airport (its terminal was built in 1974) - will take place in 2014.
