On Tuesday, 29 December, 2015, Riga
International Airport welcomed a record number of passengers, exceeding thus
the threshold of 5.1 million passengers served in 2011. The lucky passenger –
Maris Zarins arrived at the airport from the flight of the Latvian airline
airBaltic from Copenhagen.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of
Transport Kaspars Ozolins, said “Each year Riga International Airport closes
with a new record of passengers served. This is a new achievement and I extend
my thanks to the team of the airport as well as the largest carrier at Riga
International Airport – the national airlines of Latvia airBaltic, which offers
travelling opportunities to more than 60 destinations. The airport has made
large investments in modernisation and expansion of the range of services
offered to passengers, ensuring thus every precondition for a faster growth of
the number of travellers.”
The Chairman of the Board of SJSC Riga
International Airport Andris Liepins stated, “The overall growth of the
national economy along with the increase in household income and the share of
expenses spent on travelling have had a beneficial effect on the operation of
the airport this year. The comparatively low fuel costs had a positive impact
as well. And one should not forget the attractiveness of Riga City and Latvia
in general as a travelling destination. The aforementioned factors helped
introduction of several new airlines to Riga and opening of routes to new
destinations, which in its turn contributed to the constant growth of the
number of passengers.”
This year, airBaltic supported this by
opening 14 new routes for the Baltic Sea region – the largest expansion for us
since completing our restructuring and achieving profitability. For 2016 our
new highlight is Reykjavik, Iceland, and you will also see numerous
improvements to our existing network around the Baltic Sea, for example, our
flights out of Stockholm Arlanda will operate up to five times daily.”
Riga International Airport presented the
lucky passenger with the passenger loyalty card RIX Club and airport souvenirs.
The national airline airBaltic granted Maris Zarins a certificate for a flight
in business class, cooperation partners of the airport – TAV Airports Holding
representative in Latvia SIA (LLC) TAV Latvia, represented by Hakan
Uzunosmanoglu, along with subsidiaries of the holding AS (JSC) Riga Airport
Commercial Development (ATU Duty Free), Cakes&Bakes Latvia, Havas – gift
cards and baskets with gifts.
Riga International Airport will serve 5.16
million passengers in this year. This year the most popular destinations
(cities) from Riga International Airport are London, Moscow, Frankfurt, Oslo
and Helsinki. Countries passengers from Riga travel to most often are Germany,
United Kingdom, Russia, Norway and Finland.