During the last year, Riga Airport serviced a total of 3,160,954 passengers. Compared to 2006, the number of the passengers serviced has increased by 26.7% pushing Riga Airport into second position in terms of the increase in the number of passengers in the group of European small airports.
The fastest increase in the number of passengers in the group of small airports was achieved by Girona Airport (Barcelona, Spain), which in the year 2007 serviced 34.4% passengers more than in the year 2006. The third and fourth position in terms of the fastest increase in passengers during the last year in the group were taken by the airports of Sofia (Bulgaria), which has serviced 24.6% more passengers during the corresponding period and Bari Airport (Italy), which serviced 20.1% more passengers respectively.
In this passenger traffic report, the airports are divided into four categories:
- Group 1 – major airports servicing over 25 million passengers annually;
- Group 2 – major airports servicing 10 – 25 million passengers annually;
- Group 3 – medium sized airports servicing 5 -10 million passengers annually;
- Group 4 – small airports servicing up to 5 million passengers annually.
In general, the number of passengers passing through all European airports has increased by 6.5%. In the airport group servicing over 25 million passengers annually, the average increase reached 4.7%; in the group servicing 10-25 million – 7.2%; in the airport group servicing 5-10 million passengers annually, the average increase during the last year was 5%, and in the small airport group, servicing up to 5 million passengers, the increase compared to the previous year was 7.1%.
This year, Riga Airport is planning to service 4,000,000 passengers (planned increase in comparison with 2007 – 26.5%).
The complete report of the passenger traffic information for the year 2007 issued by ACI Europe can be downloaded from the following website:
http://www.aci-europe.org/upload/Airport%20Traffic%20Report%20-%202007.pdf