In October 2007 Riga airport handled by 31.2% more passengers than in the same month in October 2006. In Tallinn and Vilnius the number increased by 19.3% and 25.3% respectively over the same period.
In total 2 664 556 passengers were handled in the ten months of 2007, and it allowed to forecast that Riga airport would handle three million passengers per year for the first time in its history.
The number of handled passengers in ten months of 2007 in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius airports:
- Riga: 2 664 556
- Tallinn: 1 459 765
- Vilnius: 1 448 994
The most popular destination in the ten months of 2007 was London. 267 612 passengers or 10.9% of the total number travelled to the capital of Great Britain. The second favourite destination was the capital of Ireland – Dublin, which was the destination for 192 772 passengers or 7.8% of the total number. Stockholm and Berlin also ranked among the most visited cities with 6.5% and 5.8% passengers respectively. Also, Copenhagen and Frankfurt exceeded 5% margin of the total number of handled passengers.
The national airline airBaltic still enjoys the status of the most successful airline. In the first 10 months of 2007 AirBaltic carried 1 195 396 passengers from Riga airport or 44.9% of the total number. 25.2% or 670 353 passengers were carried by the second popular airline Ryanair. Latcharter with more than 143 thousand passengers ranks third, followed by KLM with more than 93 thousand and Easy Jet Airlines with more than 78 thousand passengers.
Six new destinations from Riga to Oulu, Hurgharda, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife, East Midlands, Shannon and Bristol are available from October 28. In November 2007 scheduled flights connect Riga to 59 cities.
In October new paying-machine, which can be used to pay for short-term parking-place P1, was set up in Arrivals-2. When paying for the parking-place Latvian currency has to be used.
In Arrivals-2 the third International Currency Exchange (ICE) office was opened due to the considerable increase of flights. After joining the Schengen zone even greater intensity of flights is forecasted.