Airport’s unaudited condensed interim statement for the 6-month period ending on 30 June 2021 shows that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the aviation industry, the turnover of Riga Airport in the first half of this year has reached 9.4 million euros.
The Airport's net turnover in the first half of 2021 amounted to 9.42 million euros, which is 2.4 million euros or 20% less than planned in this year's budget. The deviations from the plan can be explained by the second wave of coronavirus infection in the European Union, as a result of which at the beginning of this year severe restrictions on air travel were set in Latvia and lasted for several months, with passenger traffic at the Airport decreasing to a minimum.
However, the company's loss, which amounts to 9.4 million euros in the six months, is 2.2 million euros lower than expected. The amount of losses was reduced by efficient planning and use of resources, as well as compensation for the alienation of land for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway line and station in the amount of 1.9 million euros.
Although at the beginning of the summer the passenger flow showed positive trends, and the number of passengers doubled in June as compared to May, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Airport's performance is still high - only 406 thousand passengers were handled in the first half of the year, which is 63% less than the company planned in this year's budget.
“The dynamics of the pandemic and the associated travel restrictions will continue to be the key challenge for the aviation industry. However, the increasing availability of the single digital certificate and the growing coverage of vaccination, which facilitate safe and free movement, allow us to predict that although air traffic may decrease in the autumn, the crisis is not expected to be as deep as we experienced last year,” says Laila Odiņa, Chairperson of Riga Airport Board.
Riga Airport is a rapidly growing air traffic hub in the Northern Europe which connects the Baltic States with the European business centres and popular recreation destinations. As a participating organisation of the Charter for COVID-19 of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Riga Airport applies the highest epidemiological safety standards for work in the aviation sector. Skytrax has awarded Riga Airport with four stars for the implemented Covid-19 safety measures.