This Summer Riga Airport Expects a Significant Increase in Passenger Traffic
On Sunday, 27 March, a summer flight schedule will be introduced at Riga International Airport. Three new airlines are planning to start operations at the airport while the national carrier airBaltic will open flights to new destinations and resume flights on several routes that in the winter season were not serviced. Therefore passengers are asked to arrive at the airport timely in order to settle all the necessary formalities.
In the busy travel season, Riga Airport expects an increase in passenger traffic. The airlines will operate a lot of flights in the early morning hours. This year, by 21 March, 12% more passengers have been handled year on year. Therefore the passengers should be prepared that more time will be needed at the airport for settling the necessary formalities (including security control). It should be remembered that the airlines and Riga airport recommend the passengers to arrive at the airport two hours before departure.
In the summer season, several new carriers will commence their operations at Riga Airport: the airline Yanair will start flying from Kiev to Riga International Airport on 20 May, performing 7 flights a week. The Spanish carrier Vueling (Barcelona – Riga – Barcelona) will embark on its first flight to Riga on 25 June, and the Greek Aegean Airlines (Athens – Riga – Athens) – on 26 June, providing flights once a week.
The Latvian national carrier airBaltic on 28 May will open flights to the capital of Iceland Reykjavik, and, in cooperation with the tour operator Tez Tour, from 5 June flights will be performed to the Italian seaside city of Rimini.
The budget airline Wizz Air from 20 June is planning to commence flights from Riga to Tel Aviv twice a week.
On the whole, in comparison with the summer season of 2015, the planned number of flights this summer is expected to stay at the last year’s level. The highest flight frequency from Riga will be observed on the route to Moscow (66 times a week), Stockholm (49 times a week), Helsinki (45 times a week) and London (39 times a week).
In the summer season, Riga International Airport will provide the opportunity to fly to 79 destinations, by 21 air carriers: airBaltic, Aeroflot, Aegean Airlines, Belavia, Ellinair, Finnair, FlyEgypt, LOT, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Onur Air, Ryanair, SAS, SmartLynx Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, Utair, Uzbekistan Airways, Vueling, Wizz Air, Yanair.
Please be reminded that on 27 March the clocks in Latvia will be put one hour forward to summer daylight saving time. In order to avoid misunderstandings and reach the destinations by the scheduled time, the passengers are requested to check their departure time by contacting their airline, Riga Airport home page www.riga-airport.com, or by calling Airport Enquiry Service 1817.