Riga international airport

Riga 2004

During the past century Latvian aviation, like the country itself, experienced a number of fateful turning points. The former province of Russia, which won independence after the 1st World War, established small air force and civil aviation, but lost everything due to the Soviet occupation in the summer of 1940. Independence of the country was regained in August 1991.

Riga airport was built in the present location in October 1974. However, it remained unknown for the world operating as the local airport within the former USSR. Only in 1991 Riga destination appeared in the timetables of well-known Western airlines - first SAS, then Lufthansa.

The capital of Latvia developed historically into the regional centre of the Baltic’s. It has been the intersection of major land and sea routes since long ago. Nowadays the number of air routes keeps increasing. Riga is the biggest city of the Baltic States. Riga airport has the largest number of air passengers handled during the past 10 years.

The number of passengers has doubled since 1993. Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, Helsinki, Frankfurt, Moscow, Prague and Vienna routes have the largest number of passengers. Furthermore, direct flights link the capital of Latvia with Honk-Kong, Kiev, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Vilnius and Warsaw.

During this period Riga airport has implemented several important modernization and expansion projects. The lounge for business class passengers and VIP centre was opened, and Flight Information Display System (FIDS) and Common Use Terminal Equipment System (CUTE) has been installed.

However, chief of company consider that the airport development and modernization should be at least a step ahead of passenger growth. He forecast that by stable economic development of Latvia the airport passenger numbers will grow considerably in the new millennium. The former terminal was not spacious enough and could not provide full comfort for passengers. Therefore major reconstruction started on the eve of the new millennium by pulling down the old one-level arrival area and by constructing a new two-level building 5 times exceeding the size of the former one. The former departure area was reconstructed next and a new pier with 5 passenger bridges was built instead. Altogether terminal was extended by more than 10 thousand square meters and 30 million USD were invested in the implementation of the project.

The reconstruction permitted to expand considerably the duty-free trade centre. Our duty-free shops offering souvenirs, perfumery, cosmetics, jeweller, watches, accessories, sweets, wines and spirits, tobacco goods, sportswear and toys are very popular. You can purchase both Latvian products as well as goods offered by famous international producers. Every departing passenger purchases goods for average value of 18 USD.

New bars and cafes have been opened.

Spacious shopping halls, bars and cafes fit well in the new airport interior that includes the elements of glass, metal and natural materials, like wood, stone and others forming Riga airport image of today.

The main idea of the new design was to construct spacious, light and, which is most important, transparent rooms for passengers to make one feel more and safe.

Geometry of the new building facades differs from the one associated with Riga airport till now. The glazed rhombic prisms laid in various planes encircle the new constructions. The facades resemble crystalline ice compositions arousing northern feelings. Harmony of grey and blue colours is dominant in the interior.

A modern Building Management System (BMS), air conditioning system, electric facilities and security equipment have been installed in the new building. Handling of persons with special needs has improved. Riga airport has succeeded in solving the most complicated problem of any airport design an optimum balance was reached among architectural, functional and commercial aspects.

Everything we have achieved has been done with the purpose of taking care of our passengers' convenience, so that a person arriving in Riga has a friendly environment and receives services of the highest quality. The better impressions of the airport, the more comfortable passengers feel while travelling.

Services will be further improved by considering expectations of our passengers and guests, who have filled out questionnaires available at special stands in the terminal. We look forward to receive comments on the recently introduced airport tour programmed and art exhibitions at the airport. Passenger loyalty programmed providing discounts, presents and special service for regular passengers has been launched.

Providing passenger service quality and variety Riga International Airport pays special attention to ground handling level. The airport provides a full range of the required services.

Providing passenger service quality and variety Riga international airport pays special attention to ground handling level. The airport provides a full range of the required services.

In 1994 Strabag International GmbH and Daimler Benz Aerospace AG carried out the first airport reconstruction works involving runway rehabilitation and the replacement of lighting system. Today along with terminal reconstruction taxiways and the central apron of 13 hectares have been reconstructed.

The airport transport and emergency systems have also been gradually improved. Transport and equipment from the Soviet era has been replaced with new Neoplan, Vanhool and Mercedes buses, Scmitz airport sweeper, Volkswagen service cars and Sides fire-fighting vehicles.

The new passenger boarding bridges are equipped with modern aircraft technical service systems. The latest technologies ensure both heating and conditioning of the aircraft flight deck. Riga airport provides a complete range of ground handling services. The carrier Air Baltic also performs separate operations.

An acknowledgement of compliance with high-quality requirements is ISO 9001 Quality Certificate issued by the British Standards Institute auditors.

Development of air traffic.

2002 was one of the hardest years ever for the aviation industry. 11 September 2001 shocked the USA and caused a crisis in the world’s aviation business after continuous and dynamic development of more than half a century. In all the developed countries of the world passenger figures collapsed and the downward trend also continued in to 2002. Altogether, passenger figures dropped by around 5 million in Europe and by 35 million in North America compared with 2001.

“Riga” airport was also affected by the consequences of the crisis. First, we expensed a substantial fall in traffic to the USA. In August 2001 around 3.5 thousand passengers departed the USA from Riga, but in the months following the terrorist attacks of 11 September passenger figures decreased by more than 60% causing an important loss for the airport. Despite the downward trend, the report years were profitable. The important things are that we have not lost passengers, as have other airports worldwide.

Table 1. Aircraft movements

Passenger figures exceed 600 000, i.e. by 1.7% more than in 2001 for the second consecutive year. Altogether, the airport handled 18 676 flights falling behind the previous report year by 1.2% due to “Austrian Airlines”, “Estonian Air” and the Swedish airline “Trygg-Flyg” deceasing flights to Riga.

For the third year air cargo transportation has grown considerably with turnover exceeding 6 000 tons for the first time, i.e. by 26.3% over the previous year. Cargo transportation import (78.2%) still significantly exceeds export (21.8%).

To achieve these results the airport staff had to be more purposeful, determined and competent than in the previous report period.

12 carriers including “Air Baltic”, “Aeroflot”, “Austrian Airlines”, “Belavia”, “British Airways”, “ČSA”, “Estonian Air”, “Finnair”, “Latpass Airlines”, “LOT”, “Lufthansa” and “Trygg-Flyg” provided scheduled passenger flights from “Riga” airport in 2002.

Scheduled direct flights linked Riga with 16 European cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Jonkoping, Kiev, Copenhagen, London, Moscow, Minsk, Prague, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Vilnius and Vienna.

Table 2. Cargo transportation (t)

Major passenger flows and routes of scheduled flights.

In 2002 the flight map changed slightly with “Air Baltic” exploring new destinations and starting flights to Berlin in May and later to Vienna. Additionally, “Air Baltic” resumed flights to Moscow, Warsaw and Prague, which had been suspended as unprofitable the previous years. Thus, the Latvian aviation market was considerably divided. “Air Baltic” improved its position, but “Austrian Airlines” discontinued flights from Vienna to Riga due to the imposed flight reduction. In comparison with the last year, the dynamics of passenger growth for the above destinations dropped considerably by 885 on the Warsaw route, 22.8% on the Vienna route and 17.3% on the Moscow route.

Table 3. Passenger movements

In 2002 73 passengers out of every 100 handled in Riga (including transit) travelled to or from Western Europe. Altogether scheduled flights to Western Europe were responsible for the growth of passengers figures (almost 11 000). Berlin, with the highest passengers growth rate ranks first among the cities of Western Europe (it should be mentioned, however, that in 2001 there were no scheduled flights on this route); followed by London with 6.9% and Frankfurt with 6.4%. However, there is an exception. For the first time passengers figures on the Helsinki route have dropped by almost 3 000 or 3.9% in comparison with the last year. Nevertheless, Helsinki ranks 2 nd on the list of the most popular destinations. For the second successive year passenger figures on the Stockholm route have dropped sharply by almost 14 000 or 21%. Accordingly, a Stockholm rank 6th instead of the previous 3rd, but the Copenhagen has constantly been number one since 1996, despite a passenger growth rate, which has slowed down on the route.

In 2002 passenger figures for Eastern and Central Europe have grown slightly. Some destinations have faced radical changes. As in previous years, passengers figures decreased by 17.3% on the Moscow route. For the second year after resuming scheduled flights on the Tallinn route passenger figures went down by 11.4%. Passengers figures on the Prague route increased significantly by 27.7% for the second year. It should be underlined that the Prague route has the highest absolute growth rate, i.e. by 13 000 passengers more and even surpasses the Copenhagen route. Accordingly, Prague shows a very convincing growth and ranks 3rd instead of being 6th in 2001 on the list of the most popular destinations. The success allowed “ČSA” to pull ahead of such major airlines as “British Airways”, “Lufthansa” and “Finnair”. A couple of years ago such a forecast would have seemed unbelievable. “ČSA” passengers figures have almost tripled compared with 1999 and almost doubled compared with 2000.

Only three of the carriers providing scheduled flights to Riga during the report year have carried fewer passengers than in 2001, i.e. “Aeroflot” with 29.6%, “Finnair” with 16.3% and “LOT” with 2.7%. These airlines have reduced flight frequency by 35.8%, 2.4% and 1.7% respectively. “Air Baltic” has carried the majority of passengers to and from Riga, i.e. 43% of the total number of passengers. “ČSA” with 10% of passengers handled at “Riga” airport ranks 2nd. As in 2001, “British Airways” with 9% ranks 3rd, “Lufthansa” with 8% ranks 4th, “Finnair” with 8% is 5th, but “Latcharter” with 7% is 6th.

Table 4. Passenger movements per city

Air cargo