With the summer flight schedule setting in, Riga International Airport is planning to increase flight frequency by sixteen percent year on year. There will be more flights to such destinations as Kiev, Lappeenranta, Vilnius, Berlin, Kaliningrad, Bergen, Helsinki and other. The estimated passenger traffic is expected to rise by 200 thousand passengers compared with the same period in 2010.
This year two new airlines will start operations at the airport: Skyways that 13 times a week will fly to/from Gothenburg (Sweden) and El Al/Sundor that is planning to commence flights to/from Tel Aviv.
Six new destinations will be opened: the airline airBaltic will fly to Budapest and Gdansk four times a week and once a week to Bari (Italy), Turkish Airlines twice a week will carry passengers to Antalya, whereas the budget airline Ryanair four times a week will fly to Ciampino Airport, Rome.
„In view of the estimated increase of the passenger traffic, on the existing airport premises three new gates will be established by 1 June. We will also recruit additional passenger service staff for the summer season,” said Arnis Luhse, Chairman of the Board of Riga International Airport.
„The capacity of the airport is limited therefore we will organise our work in such a way as to serve our passengers to the best of our ability, ” added A.Luhse.
In the first three months of 2011 Riga International Airport has welcomed almost 940 thousand passengers or three percent more, year on year.
In the period from January to March slightly more than 15 thousand aircraft and 2 800 tonnes of various cargo were handled at the airport.