Riga International Airport in 2014 welcomed 4.8 million passengers or 0.4% travellers more than in the previous year. This year, several new airlines will start operations at the airport while the existing ones will increase the number of their destinations.
„We are the largest air traffic hub in the Baltics – 46 per cent of this region’s passengers are transported via Riga. This year, we will continue to work at expanding the number of destinations and attracting new air carriers,” said Andris Liepiņš, chairman of the board of Riga international Airport.
The travellers’ most popular destinations in 2014 were London, Moscow, Frankfurt, Helsinki and Oslo. Of the total passenger turnover last year, almost 56% were carried by the national carrier airBaltic and 16% - by the airline Ryanair. In comparison with the year 2013, a substantial rise in the number of passengers was achieved by the airlines Wizz Air (+ 51%), Lufthansa (+18%) and Norwegian Air Shuttle (+15%).
It should be mentioned that transfer/transit passengers comprised 29% of the total number of passengers handled last year and their most frequently chosen destinations via Riga Airport were Tallinn, Vilnius, Helsinki, Moscow and Stockholm.
For charter flights, the most attractive destinations were Antalya, as well as Heraklion, Hurghada and Burgas.
This year, several new airlines are planning to come to the airport (Turkmenistan Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, Swiss International Airlines), and new flights are to be launched. The airline Wizz Air this spring intends to expand its operations in Riga by basing another aircraft and opening three new destinations.
In 2014, Riga International Airport handled almost 66 thousand aircraft and 33 thousand tons of cargo. Twelve new destinations were opened from Riga Airport and operations were commenced by Brussels Airlines.
Currently, 66 destinations are available from Riga International Airport and they are provided by 16 carriers: airBaltic, Aeroflot, Austrian Airlines Group, Belavia, Brussels Airlines, Finnair, LOT, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Uzbekistan Airways, Ryanair, Transaero, Turkish Airlines, Nesma Airlines, Wizz Air, and Smartlynx.