The summer flight season will start on Sunday, 26 March, and this year 89 destinations will be available to passengers travelling from Riga International Airport.
In addition to the existing routes, airlines will offer 16 new destinations for both business travel and leisure purposes.
The widest range of new destinations will be offered by the national airline airBaltic: from 26 March to Tampere (Finland) and Odessa (Ukraine); from April 26 - to Kazan (Russia); from 2 May - the Aberdeen (United Kingdom) and Stavanger (Norway); from 4 May - to Geneva (Switzerland); from 11 May – to Catania (Italy); from 16 May to Liepāja (Latvia); from 26 May - to Madrid (Spain); and from 1 June - to Gothenburg (Sweden). From 13 July to 17 August, while Vilnius Airport is planned to be closed, airBaltic will also operate flights to Kaunas (Lithuania). The national airline will also significantly increase the number of flights to Helsinki (Finland) and Kiev (Ukraine).
As of 25 June, low-cost airline Wizzair will operate two new services twice weekly: to Reykjavik (Iceland) and Bari (Italy).
In turn, Scandinavian Air System (SAS) as of 26 March will offer 12 flights weekly to Copenhagen (Denmark).
On 29 May, a new airline - Russia's largest regional air carrier RusLine - will launch flights from Riga to Moscow Domodedovo Airport six times a week.
Ellinair, in turn, will offer charter flights to Heraklion, the capital of Crete.
Altogether 17 carriers will operate flights from Riga Airport during the summer season: airBaltic, Ryanair, WizzAir, Aeroflot, SAS, Finnair, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Lufthansa, LOT Polish Airlines, Utair, Turkish Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, RusLine, Uzbekistan Airways, Belavia, Ellinair and Smartlynx Airlines.
Ilona Līce, Chairman of the Board of Riga International Airport: "Riga Airport is the leader in the Baltic Region both in terms of passenger traffic and the range of destinations and connectivity. Travellers from Riga can easily reach any place of the world: both with the direct long-haul flights to New York (USA), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Reykjavik (Iceland) and Tel Aviv (Israel); or by travelling to major European air traffic hubs in the UK, Germany or Scandinavia. It is wonderful that the national airline airBaltic and other carriers have so many new things to offer, including some truly exciting destinations such as Geneva, Madrid, Odessa, Kazan, Bari, Reykjavik and others, which will undoubtedly help the Airport to attract new travellers."
From the beginning of the year to 20 March, Riga International Airport handled 979 739 passengers, which is 3.3% more than in the corresponding period of 2016. During this year's first two months, the transit and transfer passenger traffic grew by 14.2%, amounting to 26% of the total number of passengers. London, Moscow and Frankfurt were the most popular destinations in January and February.
The summer timetable will start on 26 March, together with the transition to the summer time when clocks are turned an hour forward. To avoid any misunderstanding, passengers are invited to double-check their flight departure times. This can be done by contacting the selected airline, by visiting Riga Airport website www.riga-airport.com, or by calling the Airport information service 1817.
Riga International Airport is the largest air traffic hub in the Baltics. The 20 airlines operating at Riga Airport offer more than 60 destinations in the winter season and more than 80 in the summer season. In 2016, Riga Airport handled over 5.6 million passengers - nearly 45% of the entire Baltic air passenger traffic.
To publish this article please contact BalticTravelnews.eu editorial board
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