Mantaz: thread archive by this link:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=268239


New player came to Riga airport:
Low cost airliner "Norwegian" yesterday started flights Riga - Oslo. This will be done three times per week. Costs - 196 NOK = some 25 EUR.
www.norwegian.no

New player came to Riga airport:
Low cost airliner "Norwegian" yesterday started flights Riga - Oslo. This will be done three times per week. Costs - 196 NOK = some 25 EUR.
www.norwegian.no

wohooo!!!:banana:

I have used Norwegian twice in a year now, and very happy with it! Maybe I should try to convince my girlfriend for a trip to Riga this spring:)

last week I used czech airlines to get to Larnaka through Prague. The plane was full. and who the f...ck is flying from Riga to Prague. Nobody. Some 20% stayed in Prague the rest was flying somewhere else just using Prague as transit. Because Czech Airlines are offering the best rates to get to the cities which are not served by direct flyghts. If airBaltic will manage to offer for the europeans the best rates for travel to these destinations and decent service in bussines class these routies will be popular. Of course they have to consider, that nobody will go on internet and buy tickets first to Riga and than to Baku. They have to be able through agents to offer both way ticket to these cerayin destinations and cheaper then other possibole connectiosn through scandinavia or central-eastern Europe

Come, @NorthStar, somewhere in May! Then this city is like paradise and your g/f will be glad that she came

^ I will suggest it one day! And I hope a small guided tour will be possible;)

The ministry of communication approved the plans to build a new VNO airport terminal for non-Shengen citizens. The plannet cost is not known yet, but predicted is ~30 mio €. The exension works should get started on spring of next year.

Air Baltic today offers flights Riga-Oslo just for 16 Lats (23 EUR) :)

Are there any intercontinental flight from any of the Baltic airports? Are there any widebody aircraft?

Tashkent - Riga - New York by Uzbekistan airlines, two times per week, by Boeing 763. Don't know if this is widebody.

Tashkent - Riga - New York by Uzbekistan airlines, two times per week, by Boeing 763. Don't know if this is widebody.
B767-300 is a widebody alright

Riga - Telaviv, well it`s still Eurasia (these flights are not on regular basis). Also charter flights to Egypt, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, South America, I think.

Riga airport to undergo radical reconstruction
Riga airport has prepared ambitious reconstruction program which envisages that until 2010 airport would be prepared to take 5 mio passengers per year, but the most significant investments will start afterwards and until 2015 capacity will increase to 10 mio. Costs of works will amount to 200 mio EUR.
Financial turnover of airport in the first half of 2005 - 9 mio EUR comparing with 7 mio EUR last year. For passengers and airlines with large turnover Riga airport is the cheapest in Europe.

Here is a picture of the Vilnius terminal expansion.


http://www.i-manager.lt/upload/200510/NaujasVilniausorouostas-ddd.jpg


As you can see, the old terminal will be integrated into the new building.

Are there any new pictures of the Riga terminal expansion ? I´m very interested in this project.

/\ more like swalloved!

Here is a picture of the Vilnius terminal expansion.


http://www.i-manager.lt/upload/200510/NaujasVilniausorouostas-ddd.jpg


As you can see, the old terminal will be integrated into the new building.

Uh... looks ugly, why our architects choose the easiest way - to cover building with glass to make it look more modern? That's insane :bash:

edit: greetings to our newcomer

^^ This is not a new terminal. Its just some rendering of proposed VNO reconstruction. A new terminal will look very much as an extention of the old one towards the air field.

Are there any new pictures of the Riga terminal expansion ? I´m very interested in this project.

Northern terminal in Riga - in forefront. Architects - "Arhis". As you can see, it does not add new airbridges.
http://www.arhis.lv/data/projects/sabiedriskas/lidosta%20zt/b2.500.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5108/rix27dm.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3813/rix34bc.jpg

Large part of works has been done. This will increase RIX capacity to 5 mio per year.

Bangkok, Singapore and Beijing - direct flights to these cities from Riga under negotiations, according Minister of Transportation.

Bangkok is a popular destination for Baltic tourists already. China is becoming more popular destination too. Singapore seems a bit too far, imho.

/\WHAT?! That is 100% AWESOME. LOL, im so jealous of Riga airport for taking off!

There were images of Riga Airoirt expansion project posted by Gatis in a different thread.

The below image posted on Arhis website shows Nothern Terminal-nearly completed now-however without an adjasent pier with airbridges. Northern Terminal is on the right side of the main terminal on the image below:

http://www.arhis.lv/data/projects/sabiedriskas/lidosta%20zt/b1.500.jpg

However, immediately after completion of the Nothern Terminal Riga Airport will start buiding a new pier with 6 airbridges adjasent to the new terminal. On the image below (originally posted by Gatis) it is the right pier. The middle pier exists already and the pier to on the left side will be constructed later.

All the darker areas (runway, taxiways, and aprons) are proposed additions. In fact Riga Aiport just received additional land plot that will alow them to extend the existing runway, which should happen very soon.

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/2923/plans8qk.jpg

Minister of transportation - Riga is perfectly suited for direct flights to Beijing, Singapore and Bangkok. Because it takes two planes to fly from, say, CPH, to Beijing and return the same day, but only one plane from Riga - this is more economical, according to minister (interview today in NRA newspaper).

Quote - Rīgas pārākums starp citām Eiropas pilsētām ir tas, ka, piemēram, lai no Kopenhāgenas vienā dienā nokļūtu Pekinā, Singapūrā vai Bangkokā un atgrieztos atpakaļ, ir nepieciešamas divas lidmašīnas, bet no Rīgas to ir iespējams izdarīt ar vienu lidmašīnu. Tas ir ekonomiski ļoti izdevīgi, un es domāju, ka būs daudzas kompānijas, kas vēlēsies izmantot šo priekšrocību. Esmu pārliecināts, ka lidosta Rīga nākamo desmit gadu laikā izkonkurēs pārējās Skandināvijas lidostas, nerunājot nemaz par provinciālām lidostām Igaunijā un Lietuvā.

This man is super ambitious !

Weird... Is CPH that much further from Beijing than Riga to have two planes instead of one? Why? Refuelling or the resting of crew or what???
Better remain sceptical...

Sounds really superambitious, but i do not believe, that these calculations were made by Shlesers himself, he does not have time for this, but its's nice to think that there are people who are appointed to make such calculations, even if they are not local specialists

Latest statistics from Riga airport:

October: 181 663 passengers (+87% comparing to last year), 3 118 flights (+27,7%)
January - October this year - 1,5 mio passengers (851 084 last year, +83%), 29 086 flights (+28,8%).
Cargo increase - 87,5%

[QUOTE=Gatis]Latest statistics from Riga airport:

October: 181 663 passengers (+87% comparing to last year), 3 118 flights (+27,7%)
January - October this year - 1,5 mio passengers

1,557 496
(851 084 last year, +83%) amazing !

US airline company Baltia Air Lines, owned by ethnic Russians from Riga, is considering to open line Riga - New York in 2006. They plan to have two flights per week. Their priority is St, Petersburg - New York line, Riga will come afterwards.

This idea is accepted sceptically - the existing line Tashkent - Riga - New York is not too successful and its frequency has been decreased to one time per week. Representatives of "Uzbekistan airlines" say - they can not imagine, where "Baltia Air Lines" will find 300 passengers every three days. "Baltia Air Lines" representatives say that they are prepared for hard beginning but are confident about long-term success.

If they do their job properly and well, may they succeed! :okay:

US airline company Baltia Air Lines, owned by ethnic Russians from Riga, is considering to open line Riga - New York in 2006. They plan to have two flights per week. Their priority is St, Petersburg - New York line, Riga will come afterwards.

This idea is accepted sceptically - the existing line Tashkent - Riga - New York is not too successful and its frequency has been decreased to one time per week. Representatives of "Uzbekistan airlines" say - they can not imagine, where "Baltia Air Lines" will find 300 passengers every three days. "Baltia Air Lines" representatives say that they are prepared for hard beginning but are confident about long-term success.

I found their "website" - http://www.baltia.com looks really cheap, amateuristic site. The funny thing is - there stands that the first flight is planned in 2004... :| I'm not too optimistic about this "airline" :weird: :toilet:

O dear, LatvianGG! Now that doesn't sound good at all! :runaway:

Their Webpage is designed by Chiki Briki. That's impressive brandname!

Sad that people put their dream business on such a sad Webpage. Although there is lot of contents in it... with dubious content. About Riga they say lots of pleasant things, what warms my heart. But there are some surprises as well, especially this:
In Riga you can travel in time.
Didn't know :( Now that would beat Disneyland, if this service would be better advertised!!!

Their Webpage is designed by Chiki Briki. That's impressive brandname!

:wallbash: :rofl:
Chiki Briki - perhaps is a 13 year old son of one of the owners...

Having looked at that website, I think Baltia Airlines is still somebody's dream. :|

I won't say it'll never come off, but it has a ways to go. ;)

I think Riga-NYC (or other US city) won't be profitable for a couple of years at least, there are several reasons for this, including pain-in-a$$ procedure of getting US visas here (you can pay 100 bucks for that and there's no guarantee you will get that permission, and no-one is going to pay this money back); the other main reasons (IMHO) are - lack of people capable of paying for such trips (i mean, the percentage of people among those who CAN pay and want/need to visit US is pretty low to make these flights popular) and still rather weak human connections between LV and US people, which is one of the main motivating circumstances that forces people to travel more ;)

Uhhh ... sorry, vanniken!

I surely don't mean to make fun of a modest Eastern European enterprise that is just beginning. On the contrary! I'd support it along with it the very best, and the people who know me would affirm that, I'm sure.

The reason why I made those negative comments is that I took a good look at the company's website, found many things lacking or outdated, and therefore decided that it can't possibly claim to be all it says it is. In short, I wouldn't fly with them atm. ;) On the other hand, I've taken several flights on Air Baltic, which I consider a serious and reliable enterprise. :okay:

I'm sorry it's still so hard for you guys to come over here and visit our beautiful country. :( I hope that, over time, it will become easier and more affordable. :angel1:

And welcome to S&B! :wave: :cheers1:

I think there are probably enough americans like WH who want to visit Latvia and wait for such a straight, reliable connection between Riga and USA. Besides, there are at least several tens of thousands of latvians living in the USA and want to visit their homecountry more often than they can afford now with the NW, KLM or SAS. It's not so much about the people in Latvia who want to go to USA, but more about people in USA who want to go to Latvia.

Thanks, Whose Homepage :) i was reading these forums for almost a year, don't know why i hesitated for such a long time to join the community in a more acrive way ;)

i'm comfotable with any critics of poor enterprises be them local or foreign, i just think for any business there should be proper background, you know, you could send people to outer space already 30 years ago (at least), but only these days technology/infrastructure and other circumstances allow more and more people at least sersiously consider such possibility, and as i understood, China made a very loud statement on this issue a couple of weeks ago.. and similar situation here with these flights to US and back.. LatvianGG, there are flights from NYC to Riga at the moment (!), and there are not so much people who actually want/need to come here or go there (no matter how many thousands of latvians living abroad), which makes me think, that at least for a couple of years there is no chance to survive for a company that plans to earn money operating only such routes.. on the contrary, in a modern digital times, there is no need for direct routes, you just need to dig deeper and do some proper planning, and you can still go over the ocean for pretty low expenses.. some language skills, brainwork and active search can do fantastic things, you know ;)

Here is some comparative statistics among the Baltic Capitals' Airports for 2005:

Statistics for January - October 2005

Passengers:
Riga Airport - 1,557 mio passengers (83% increase)
Tallinn Airport - 1,183 mio passengers (45% increase)
Vilnius Airport - 1,106 mio passengers (31% increase)

Flights:
Riga Airport - 29,086 flights (29% increase)
Tallinn Airport - 28,428 flights (20% increase)
Vilnius Airport - 25,069 flights (29% increase)

Cargo:
Riga Airport - 14,302 tons (87% increase)
Tallinn Airport - 7,995 tons
Vilnius Airport - 4,310 tons (1% increase)

Statistics for October 2005:

Passengers:
Riga Airport - 181,7 thousand passengers
Tallinn Airport - 133,7 thousand passengers
Vilnius Airport - 108,7 thousand passengers

Flights:
Tallinn Airport - 3187 flights
Riga Airport - 3118 flights
Vilnius Airport - 2421 flights

Cargo:
Riga Airport - 976 tons
Tallinn Airport - 922 tons
Vilnius Airport - 489 tons

LatvianGG, there are flights from NYC to Riga at the moment (!), and there are not so much people who actually want/need to come here or go there (no matter how many thousands of latvians living abroad), which makes me think, that at least for a couple of years there is no chance to survive for a company that plans to earn money operating only such routes.. on the contrary, in a modern digital times, there is no need for direct routes, you just need to dig deeper and do some proper planning, and you can still go over the ocean for pretty low expenses.. some language skills, brainwork and active search can do fantastic things, you know ;)

Got to agree with you. But tell me, will an american traveller dig in the deepest holes on the internet to find a flight to from NY to Riga by Uzbekistan airways or rather go to a well-know airline ticket retailer and book a flight to Riga by f.e. NorthWest or KLM? I know about the flight by Uzbekistan Airways, but I seriously doubt that the combined flight to Riga can be cheaper than the straight connection by UzAir... It is just the fact that there are not much people who want to fly by this airline... And also because there is no good promotion, almost noone knows about this company and this flight in Riga and in USA except perhaps a few travel agents and us - S&B forumers :) This is also why I was so ironic about the website of Baltia Airlines... It's nowadays a FACE of any company!
Also - take Amsterdam - would you think 3 years ago that flights to Amsterdam and Riga and vice versa would be among 5 most popular connections of Riga Airport? No. KLM as well as AirBaltc did a great promotion job and the result can be seen in numbers of passengers. Of course most of the passengers are using Amsterdam as a transfer airport and are going further to another destination, but the same can happen to Riga-NY if good promotion and reliable airline would do the same job KLM and AirBaltic did with Amsterdam route. Think of all latvians who live all across the USA and might use the NY-Riga flight if a well known airline would promote this new route...

Here is some comparative statistics among the Baltic Capitals' Airports for 2005:

Yes this is amazing!
2 Gatis: Almoast half year ago what did I said about Riga airport statistics for 2005???
Didn't I said that in 2005 Riga airport will reach 2 mio ???

m? :banana:

It will not reach 2 mio this year. Wanna bet?

I say it's gonna be 1 930 000.
Now your bets ladies and gentlemen!

1 876 327

I say it's gonna be 1 930 000.
Now your bets ladies and gentlemen!

I'd love to boost those figures a bit more by coming to visit again, but I'm back home now. And I don't like to bet. ;) I know of 2 certain passengers for Vilnius, though: Dramblys and his wife will be coming for Christmas! :cool:

;) Don't worry- i will come to Riga in December and will improve the statistics of Riga's airport

He he :)
- - -
Ryanair from 9th January starts new line - Dublin - Riga. They hope to get some 80 000 people per year on this line. Air Baltic and Aer Lingus are their competitors on this line.

He he :)
- - -
Ryanair from 9th January starts new line - Dublin - Riga. They hope to get some 80 000 people per year on this line. Air Baltic and Aer Lingus are their competitors on this line.
Good idea ,but it's a bit too late. :) 80% of people, that wanted to work in Ireland, have gone to Ireland in last years, so, i wiil be honest- i hope Ryanair will have no luck with that destination.

They will service Irish beer bellies ;)

They will service Irish beer bellies ;)

Indeed, Ryanair from Dublin flies mostly to British cities + Mediterranean resorts. Beer lovers will be satisfied :)

Probably I will go to Oslo for a weekend. It means +2 this year

i reckon 1 600 000 for Riga

I'd love to boost those figures a bit more by coming to visit again, but I'm back home now. And I don't like to bet. ;) I know of 2 certain passengers for Vilnius, though: Dramblys and his wife will be coming for Christmas! :cool:

AH, just about 41 days to go and counting. Thanks for reminding me WH!

Vilniaus Oro Uostas can definitely confirm an additional 2 passengers in December. :)

Riga seem to be the king of the air in the Baltics! I'm glad to see that. :) I guess that one of the three airports will gain some sort of "hub status" (at least for European flights) in the future, and I guess it's gonna be Riga as it looks now...

You never know, things sometimes change with unexpected speed. But I hope that Riga will not experience any serious problems.
In Scandinavia it is interesting that all capitals have got similar turnover although Copenhagen seems to be a bit more like hub

i reckon 1 600 000 for Riga

Ch1le - in 10 months this year it is already 1 557 000..

/\ oh... thought it was close to 1 400 000 or so...
IF so ill say 1 700 000

i wiil be honest- i hope Ryanair will have no luck with that destination.

Don't let Monkey hear that, Ita! :laugh:

And I'm glad to hear you're headed home for Christmas. :happy:

i bet 2 000 002

My sister is working as other 30 000 latvians in irland now. So she will be definitely one of the customers of teh new Riga Dublin route. It is as I understand now the cheapest possible way to get from Dublin to Riga.

Good idea ,but it's a bit too late. :) 80% of people, that wanted to work in Ireland, have gone to Ireland in last years, so, i wiil be honest- i hope Ryanair will have no luck with that destination.

Most of the poeple working in Irland have friends and relatives in Latvia and they regularly travel back. So i think this new rout was logical and will have many many passengers. I bought already ticket for my sister from Dublin to Riga with airBaltic in December and in January Riga - Dublin with Ryanair.

I was among those happy poeple who were quick enough to buy these very cheap tickets to Barcelona from Riga with airBaltic. You won't believe Riga-Barcelona-Riga both way all inclusive price 14 lats (ca 20 EUR) My best purchase ever :)

Add 3 passengers for December - myself and two friends. Actually, we're flying to Kaunas [with Ryanair] but coming back from Vilnius. I love these cheap flights, but the environmental cost makes me feel really guilty.

Where are you now anyway, Svajokllis? :) You don't tell us--of course you don't have to, but it would be nice to know. ;)

There's only one city from which Ryan Air flies to Kaunas ;)

I tried RyanAir a few weeks ago and i was really impressed. The plane was the relatively new 737-800 and the quality of service was superb. Obviously you don't get free food but who cares! It's only 2-3 hours flight so you might as well not eat. I flew back to London with British Airways and apart from food it was actually even worse! Especially the 737-400 :mad:

I'm in North London [Tufnell Park to be precise], though I was born in your very own Golden State! Ryanair is generally very good in terms of service, but for a tall person like me the planes are very cramped especially when compared to LAL, which is like Business Class throughout. And like I said before, I worry about the environmental impact of such a volume of cheap flights - and furthermore, the skies above London are worryingly crowded. Whenever I look out of my window, I can always see flashing lights in the sky! I suppose in some ways it's quite nice, it reminds me that I live in a metropolis.

Kaunas airport is booming. Last year in 9 months it served 18 000 passangers while by this year the number jumped to 39 000 (before Ryanair started flights in the end of september). Next year Ryanair is planning to introduce 3 more routes to Spain, Ireland and Germany and passenger number should jump to 300 000 in one year. Ryanair mentioned that route to London fulfilles expectations by 100% (and even more ;)).

I'm in North London [Tufnell Park to be precise], though I was born in your very own Golden State! Ryanair is generally very good in terms of service, but for a tall person like me the planes are very cramped especially when compared to LAL, which is like Business Class throughout. And like I said before, I worry about the environmental impact of such a volume of cheap flights - and furthermore, the skies above London are worryingly crowded. Whenever I look out of my window, I can always see flashing lights in the sky! I suppose in some ways it's quite nice, it reminds me that I live in a metropolis.

Can you speak Lithuanian?

Kaunas airport is booming. Last year in 9 months it served 18 000 passangers while by this year the number jumped to 39 000 (before Ryanair started flights in the end of september). Next year Ryanair is planning to introduce 3 more routes to Spain, Ireland and Germany and passenger number should jump to 300 000 in one year. Ryanair mentioned that route to London fulfilles expectations by 100% (and even more ;)).


wow. Lithuanians will get the first Ryanair route to souther Europe and not Riga. :( I envy you. Wanna trade?
we give you Riga - Tampere route and you give us kaunas Girona or Malaga or wherever Ryanair flies..

wow. Lithuanians will get the first Ryanair route to souther Europe and not Riga. :( I envy you. Wanna trade?
we give you Riga - Tampere route and you give us kaunas Girona or Malaga or wherever Ryanair flies..

All your routes for this one? Deal :D

@Svajoklis: thanks! :) I like to know such stuff. And you were born in California? I guess your folks didn't stick around, though.

And I'm also interested in your response to blimey's question.

[QUOTE=Janis_LV]wow. Lithuanians will get the first Ryanair route to souther Europe and not Riga. [QUOTE]

It`s hard to say now. There are rumours - Riga will probably get four or five new direct routes next spring, adding to existing six routes.

You never know, things sometimes change with unexpected speed. But I hope that Riga will not experience any serious problems.
In Scandinavia it is interesting that all capitals have got similar turnover although Copenhagen seems to be a bit more like hub
Yes, the intercontinental hubs are actually Copenhagen (the most important and largest with no competition) and Helsinki (although being smaller than both Stockholm-Arlanda and Oslo-Gardemoen. Finnair has a very interesting route network with many Asian destinations - and Helsinki is actually the best situated "big" airport in Europe for Asian flights...

Copenhagen-Kastrup Intl. (CPH), which is one of the most important airport hubs in Europe - as well as a Star Alliance network hub, has around 170 international destinations of which some 40-45 are intercontinental.

It looks like it's going straight up for the Baltic airports - very exciting! Glad to hear that the LCCs are expanding and opening up routes to the Baltic airports - even smaller ones like Kaunas.

@ blimey: truputeli ;)
@ Whose Homepage: Yeah I was born in LA and no, they didn't stick around - much to my annoyance. We had a swimming pool and everything...

It`s hard to say now. There are rumours - Riga will probably get four or five new direct routes next spring, adding to existing six routes.[/QUOTE]

Heard about it too - Ryanair is very positive about how the things are going in Riga...

Norwegian low-fare airline "Norwegian" has started their flights from Oslo to Riga only a couple weeks ago and according to Latvian news agency LETA "surprised by good results." In a matter of couple of days they sold 6000 tickets between Oslo and Riga. The results are so positive that next year "Norwegian" will increase flight frequency to Oslo (3x per week now) and will open new routes from Bergen and Trondheim to Riga!!!

>>> Listen up, NorthStar! :) The marvels and magic of Riga are close at hand! :cool:

Riga - success for Norwegian

http://forbruker.no/reise/article1137155.ece

6000 tickets sold before flights starts, Norwegian will consider new flights from Bergen and Trondheim to Riga after evaluation of new operations.

So who will be the first one for airport statistics for Novembe.r today couldnt find anyting in Internet..

>>> Listen up, NorthStar! :) The marvels and magic of Riga are close at hand! :cool:

I'm already aware that Norwegian will start flying to Riga, and I consider fly there some day. But this spring I'm heading for London instead, with the same airliner;)

Coming with fresh news from Riga :)

In November 2005 Riga airport served 160 000 passengers (+ 53,6% from last November), 2 800 flights (+16,9%).
Thus far in 2005 Riga airport has served 1,7 mio passengers - 79,8% increase from the last year.

^^ Impressive :okay:

And some news from Kaunas. The cheap cost company WizzAir has started flights in 6 directions to Paris, London, Liverpool, Dortmund, Malmö and Stockholm (through Warsaw). Negotiations with other 6 companies are taking part as well.

I'm going to be swelling Riga's statistics even more - after being let down by FlyLAL, I'm going back to London from Riga [it's much, much cheaper!] In light of this, what's the best way to go from Vilnius to Riga?

I'm going to be swelling Riga's statistics even more - after being let down by FlyLAL, I'm going back to London from Riga [it's much, much cheaper!] In light of this, what's the best way to go from Vilnius to Riga?

Bus look in www.eurolines.lv
or www.ecolines.lv If you buy online ticket is a little bit cheaper. If you are young or student, that it is even more cheap.

this year Gdansk will reach 700k, next year 1,1-1,2mln is predicted. :cheers:

we have direct connections with
Warsaw
Frankfurt
Oslo
London Luton
Dortmund
Copenhagen
Hamburg
London Stansted
Stokholm
Monachium

in next 2-3 months coming

Lubeck
Dublin
Lódz
Liverpool
Nottingham
Edynburg
Kologne/Bonn

Due to this growing traffic the extension of existing terminal is going to start in march

http://www.airport.gdansk.pl/siteimages/inwestycje1etap.jpg
http://www.airport.gdansk.pl/siteimages/inwestycje2etap.jpg

I'm going to be swelling Riga's statistics even more - after being let down by FlyLAL, I'm going back to London from Riga [it's much, much cheaper!] In light of this, what's the best way to go from Vilnius to Riga?
Why not Kaunas? It's much closer to Vilnius than Riga and is connected with good roads.

Yeah I'm flying out to Kaunas but the return flights in early January are spectacularly expensive. Riga is much cheaper.

And statistics for november from other Baltic airposrt is there some information abou it already?

Yes it is. Wait a little.

Thus far in 2005 Riga airport has served 1,7 mio passengers - 79,8% increase from the last year.

I'm interested in when Riga airport in number of passengers exceed the number of Latvia population:-)

I'm interested in when Riga airport in number of passengers exceed the number of Latvia population:-)

Next year :) I hope we will have more airlinks with Poland as well - Krakow and Gdansk are great destinations (Poznan as well, of course).

Sorry, I am late with data of all three large Baltic airports:

1st
Riga - 1,7 mio passengers in 2005, 160 000 in November

2nd
Tallinn - 1,3 mio passengers in 2005, 115 200 passengers in November

3rd
Vilnius - 1,2 mio passengers in 2005, 87 170 passengers in November

HE HE Tallinn's airport seems it's going to handle the number of people, the same of population of Estonia!!!...That is funny...

Next year :) I hope we will have more airlinks with Poland as well - Krakow and Gdansk are great destinations (Poznan as well, of course).

funny thing is that we are second booming air market after China but we dont have inner conections, there is no flight between Gdansk and Krakow. anyway Krakow 1,5mln, Warsaw over 7mln :)

airBaltic announced today that they will open 6 new destinations in 2006. They did not specify yet to which cities they will fly and whether these flights will originate from Riga or their smaller hub in Vilnius.

Also today airBaltic carried its millionth passenger. Just to compare, during the whole last year the Latvian Airline carried 589 thousand passengers. Thus, they have doubled their volume this year.

Yes, Air Baltic have good financial results, but there have been several negative articles in latvian press recently. They have cancelled many Riga=Tallinn and Riga=Vilnius flights - many frequent flyers, mostly estonians were really pissed about it and have sworn never fly again with AirBaltic....
I have been looking for some flights from Riga to Amsterdam for my friends lately and it seems they have blocked all straight flights and are offering flights through Copenhagen instead (with SAS) - of course 2 or 3 times more expensive...
Another incident - on a AirBaltic chartered flight to I think Turkey, a passenger had a heart attack and pilot refused to make a landing on the closest airport to help him, saying I'm not going to do it only for one passenger...
Not good, not good.... :ohno:

Very sad - airBaltic will stop to service route Riga - Amsterdam. Isn't it one step back for our national airline? Now KLM are the only ones on this route. We obviously can't expect cheaper tickets to that wonderful city in the near future. Unless Ryanair chooses to open the Eindhoven - Riga route or EasyJet to Amsterdam. But it is very unlikely. Happy estonians and lithuanians don't have KLM flying to Tallinn or Vilnius. Currently the cheapest connection with Amsterdam has Vilnius, than comes Tallinn and from Riga it is most expensive connection.

Vilnius-Amsterdam from 43 EUR+taxes one way(LAL)
Tallinn - Amsterdam from 81 EUR one way all included. (EE Air)
Riga - Amsterdam from 187 EUR both way all included (KLM)

airBaltic was doing this route for their standart price 140 EUR both way all included. But obviously there aren't that many passengeres on that route and KLM can survive because they get nex to the the tourists also the transit passengers offering cheap transatlantic and intercontinental destinations. Thats the only way to operate on that route. airBaltic coul not do it. But than I wonder how can Estonian Air or LAL operate so succesfully on that route.

Just checked - that Ryanair is starting flight from Kaunas to
Stockholm. DOnt remembe rthat soembody on here had mentioned it. So already two destinantions from Kaunas wih Ryanair. things get better.

Air Baltic will open four new routes next spring - from Riga to Dusseldorf (Ruhrgebiet) and Simferopol (Crimea, Ukraine), from Vilnius to Dusseldorf and Stockholm. Koln and Amsterdam flights stopped.

Ryanair will start flights from Kaunas to Stockholm (22 February 2006, 4 flights per week, 60 k passengers expected in first 12 months of operation) and Dublin (6 April 2006, 3 flights per week, 50k passengers expected in first 12 months of operation).

Ryanair has just announced a "major expansion of operations in Dublin airport" and 18 new routes from and to the airport. One of them will be to Kaunas :yes:

Other new routes from Dublin Airport:


FRANCE - Marseille, Nantes and La Rochelle
GERMANY - Baden (Stuttgart) and Hamburg
POLAND - Krakow, Poznan and Wroclaw
ITALY - Milan and Venice
SWEDEN - Gothenburg and Malmo
SPAIN - Valencia
PORTUGAL - Porto
AUSTRIA - Salzburg
SLOVAKIA - Bratislava
LITHUANIA - Kaunas
UK - Humberside

There will also be increased services to Barcelona, Faro, Cardiff, Malaga, Carcassonne, Biarritz and Lodz.


full article: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=166724018&p=y667z47z4

I think that 3 flights DUB-KUN per week will not be enough.

Yup, cheap tickets will be gone months before flights....

I just wonder what flyLAL is thinking. What a loser of a company they are... Can't even get a decent internet booking system! There's so many potentially profitable routes that they failed to spot.

During the next year Riga Airport is expecting to serve 2.5 million passengers accoring to the Airport's President Mr. Pomers. He is expecting that this year the airport will serve 1.8-1.9 Million passengers. The main incease in the volume will be mainly due to the Latvian travelers, who will be taking advantage of the low-fare airlines serving out of Riga Airport.

Mr. Pomers has also indicated that the extension of the existing runway will start in the early Spring of 2006.

Record year for Tallinn..
Airport serving around 1 400 000 passengers... 400 000 up from last year.... :D

And the Port... is getting a little over 7 mio passengers growth of 300 000 passengers! 100 000 more cruise ship tourists this year then last year.

Cheers!

You guys are doing pretty good...congrats...

Riga airport in 2005 made a breakthrough!

Statistics:
Served a bit less than 1,9 mio passengers (+77,1%).
Served 34 552 flights (+26,4%)
Transferred 15 896 tons of cargo (+81,6%)

Statistics for December:
160 571 passengers (+52,7%)
2 638 floghts (+14%)

It would be unbelievable to repeat such increase - in coming years Riga airport will have slower increase.

Nice to hear! Congrats to all Baltic airports for showing an enormous increase!
:applause:

I expected more passengers in december for Riga.
Flights were booked out already from the middle of the month from all main destinations, but at the end 160 000 is exactly as November...

The increase of passengers wont be that rapid as this year but I think it will be still high around 50%

Some quotes:
I don't think Riga will handle more than 2.5 million passengers in 2010,
nor any other Baltic airport, simply there is not enough interest to go there, tourism in Baltic's is still sort of in infancy, I think Tallinn has best perspective to become more attractive location for air-traffic passengers.

Tallinn can handle 600 passengers at peak hour - giving them a 2.5 million capacity this would be achievable in 2010 but with aggressive growth, Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn this year can except to achieve 1.25 million passengers each this year, not more.

I know they had large growth last year but they where going from relatively low base.
Pessimistic!???? Well come to me at the end of 2005 and we'll check who was right and wrong.

Tourism in Estonia has taken strong roots and many ppl go there for wild weekend parties, I can ce Tallinn being most popular destination in Baltic's.

I gave you good mathematical model and you can calculate from it, unless Riga build's big passenger terminal in next 18 months and than there is no likelihood of Riga airport handling more than 2.5 million passengers.
And yes Easy jet is coming to Riga but they are not some sort of miracle workers, and bring all this massive numbers as you would have thought, it is all about how popular the destination is, Riga simply is unknown destination to most of us, nobody knows where it is , what does it offer, how expensive it is and so on.
Budapest is well known city so it is Warsaw and they are barely handling 4.5 million passengers, so get a grip,
It is all how many ppl are willing to visit one place, and I don't ce many ppl flocking to go tot Riga, some Scandinavians will after all cheep booze but from I ce most use ferries to cross the Baltic see in first place.

And Croatia receives more tourist if you combine all Baltic's and add all Scandinavian countries to this hot pot you would than start to hit Croatian tourist figures, even Slovenia has more tourist than Latvia and Lithuania combined.

And recognition is all, you are just unknown destinations to most ppl.
It will take years for the numbers you talking of to come some sort of reality.
And yes I was in Tallinn, very nice place.
It will take time for Baltic states and Balkan states as well to achieve figures of Oslo, Helsinki or Copenhagen.
In early stages tourism, plays vital role, and Baltic's nations have very little of it, and most is concentrated on weekender's not best source of tourist revenue or interest as most are blasted by the time they go home.

And this is why I am confident in saying what I have said.
But hey I could be wrong, it is unlikely to be the case, but it is likely Riga will achieve 2.1 million passengers in 2010 and stagnate at this point, unless they build major airport there - or expand current one this is the fate of the Riga and all Baltic airports or anywhere else for that matter.
Traffic for Airports my Prediction:

Riga Tallinn Vilnius
2005 - 1260 000 1150 000 1200 000
2006 - 1460 000 1350 000 1400 000
2007 - 1660 000 1560 000 1600 000
2008 - 1800 000 1800 000 1800 000
2009 - 2000 000 2000 000 2000 000
2010 - 2180 000 2200 000 2200 000

Btw, mic of Orion claimed that he visited Tallinn and Vilnius but at the same time in "guess this city" thread he guessed that this is "Riga, Talin, Vilnius?" :)
http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/5662/skyline12ye.jpg

Some quotes:


Originally Posted by mic of Orion

Budapest is well known city so it is Warsaw and they are barely handling 4.5 million passengers, so get a grip,



4,5 mln in Warsaw ????

In Warsaw there were over 6,5 mln passangers after 11 months of 2005
(in the whole 2005 there were over 7 mln passangers)

here You can see stats for the 11 months of 2005 :

http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/1/3099/m3099871.jpg

Lolololololol!!! :D
Mic of Orion should read this...

as i understood, this is a guy from Balkans? no wonder he knows almost nothing about Baltics and even Scandinavia.. but, let's give him a chance, we all know those southern guys ar too hot-blooded, and some decisions and reactions come before serious thinking ;)

1 878 000 passengers - RIX total in 2005 (Norxx prognosis was 1 876 000 - :cheers: )

Starting from March 27th WizzAir will open direct route from Malmö (Sweden) to Kaunas (Lithuania).

Starting from March 27th WizzAir will open direct route from Malmö (Sweden) to Kaunas (Lithuania).
Really? That's great news - Malmö-Sturup Airport doesn't have any airlink to the Baltics as of today.

Do you have a link?

EDIT: Found it on the route map on the start page on wizzair.com.

This means that Kaunas, as the only Baltic airport operated by Wizzair, now have direct flights to Warsaw and Malmö.

Malmö now has direct flights to Budapest, Sofia, Warsaw and Kaunas on Wizzair.

Thanks for the news, Tomas!

Yes it's great. Flying to Malmo/CPH via Warsaw (earlier option) was kind of awkward and more expensive. I hope I'll be able to visit Malmo/CPH this summer :)

haha.. i just knew it... im fortunetelelr ;)

Gdansk

http://www.airport.gdansk.pl/siteimages1/Rys01.jpg

in 2006 there should be over 1 mln passengers ! :cheers:

Poland (tys. -thousand) look at Kraków - 100% growth :cheers:

http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/numery/1610/13.gif

^
Good growth - so, Poland have 6 fast growing airports (Warsaw Okecie, Krakow, Katovice - Top 3; Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw - fast growing regional airports). Rzeszow and Szczecin are still very small.
I am curious - will there be airport in Byalistok (north-east) as well ?

yes there are plans to build airports in Białystok and Lublin (Lublin will get it first though) Thanks to EU money Poland B would have chance to catch up with Poland A

I have a question for Lithuanian friends, are there any plans for rebuilding Vilnius airport? I mean its not bad at all but it seems to be too small comparing to Riga or Talinn, correct me If I'm wrong.

Some news from "Air Baltic". They have three office in SE Asia - Tokio, HongKong and Taibei. There will be opened three more in this year - one more in Taiwan, one more in China and one more in Japan. These offices are used to turn "Air Baltic" into important player in air cargo traffic between Asia and Europe... while not forgetting about passenger traffic too.

"Air Baltic" in this spring opens 6 new lines from Riga. The new lines are the following:
- four flights per week to Dusseldorf
- six flights per week to Warsaw
- two flights per week to Simferopol, Ukraine
- three times per week to Bergen, Norway
- two times per week to Baku, Azerbaijan
- two times per week to Tbilisi, Georgia.
There will be purchased one more "Boeing 737"

Besides this "Air Baltic" opens new lines connecting Vilnius with Budapest, Dusseldorf, Stockholm and Warsaw

- two flights per week to Simferopol, Ukraine
- three times per week to Bergen, Norway
- two times per week to Baku, Azerbaijan
- two times per week to Tbilisi, Georgia.

Nobody will fly there. These ar very weird destinations.

Simferopol might work - I know loads of people having business and leisure there. Lots of people own properties there.
Baku and Tbilisi... may people from there will need access to cheap airlines going further into Europe?
Bergen - don't know.

I believe Bergen is a nice destination when it's not raining, I haven't been there in my adult life, but I will soon.

But I think most people will go the other way, from Bergen to Riga, and as long as the prices on flights are cheap, people will fly to Riga in heaps;)

In Riga it's raining very often too. :)
About Baku and Tbilisi- i doubt many people will fly from there to Riga- cause they need visas, etc- too much problems.
I'm happy about Riga-Warszawa :) The connection with Central Europe must get stronger :)

Initial number of flights to Baku and Tbilisi is small, but I believe it can turn into success, because currently flights to/from Southern Caucasus are very expensive. Air Baltic will offer competitive prices how to get there using Riga as a transit airport from/to Western Europe to/from Southern Caucasus. I`m 100% sure I will fly there too.

Some quotes:





Btw, mic of Orion claimed that he visited Tallinn and Vilnius but at the same time in "guess this city" thread he guessed that this is "Riga, Talin, Vilnius?" :)
http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/5662/skyline12ye.jpg
edd I was in Baltic's, what's your point, just bc I can't recognise skyline it means I was never there, grow up... >(

As to my stats I already said this where my estimates, and they can be wrong, still, I was pretty close on other 2 airports, so 2 in 3 ain't bad...

Anyways, we all make assessments and sometimes make flops.

BTW city in question was Olumnec in Czech Republic... and no I was never there, when visiting a city I often don't have time to look form skyline point of view, I am there few few days at most.

its a life man, go with the flow... :okay:

BTW I do admit when I am wrong,...

Dzintars Pomers, Chairman of the Board of Riga International Airport

We have already finished the first stage of our terminal extension,
and are about to start the next: the extension and upgrade of our runway to
increase airport safety and capacity. Later in 2006 we will begin the construction
of a new boarding pier, which will allow us to separate flights from
inside and outside the Schengen area in the most efficient manner, and in
2007 we expect to begin the extension of the departure terminal in a major
move which should increase our capacity to 10 million passengers a year.
The rapid increase in passenger throughput represents a potential problem
in terms of airport congestion, especially at peak hours, and the
unprecedented reduction in our landing fees means that we have to
analyse solutions with extreme care. With the introduction of our new
pricing structure, we have had to focus on being tough economically, keeping
wages level while hiring 150 new staff to maintain and enhance
throughput efficiency. This year we will have four security control lines
with full X-ray and metal-detecting equipment to maximise efficiency without
sacrificing the thoroughness of our security checks.
2006 promises to be another exciting year at the airport, with more airlines,
more passengers and more destinations than ever before. We are very
happy with our progress so far, and we look forward to the future with
anticipation.

That's a good step forwared - The eastern destinations certainly aren't for tourists, but for bussiness. And only major centers in west have direct flights with these destinations. AirBaltic currently has quite dense network in west and people from there will use Riga as transit. Ukraine is big country with increasing economy, many natural resources. Azerbaidzhan is booming becaouse of its oil, many bussines interest for everybody there. Georgia is poor, but democratic and willing toi integrate in western structures, I predict many international organisations will visit it more and more. Just airBaltic have to work with travel agents who moslty are servicing bussines passengers. Travel agents have to suggest to use airBaltic and not BA or Lufthansa and price must be good also.

Dont know about Bergen and Warshau, don't know who will use it. Hope many rich norwegians. I am not going to fly there in near future. I more like southern Europe. Can't wait to get a direct flight to Rome.


Some news from "Air Baltic". They have three office in SE Asia - Tokio, HongKong and Taibei. There will be opened three more in this year - one more in Taiwan, one more in China and one more in Japan. These offices are used to turn "Air Baltic" into important player in air cargo traffic between Asia and Europe... while not forgetting about passenger traffic too.

"Air Baltic" in this spring opens 6 new lines from Riga. The new lines are the following:
- four flights per week to Dusseldorf
- six flights per week to Warsaw
- two flights per week to Simferopol, Ukraine
- three times per week to Bergen, Norway
- two times per week to Baku, Azerbaijan
- two times per week to Tbilisi, Georgia.
There will be purchased one more "Boeing 737"

Besides this "Air Baltic" opens new lines connecting Vilnius with Budapest, Dusseldorf, Stockholm and Warsaw

160 000 passengers served in Riga in January (60% increase comparing with January 2005, when 101 000 passengers were served; 50 000 passengers served in January 2004).

160 000 passengers served in Riga in January (60% increase comparing with January 2005, when 101 000 passengers were served; 50 000 passengers served in January 2004).

Yeah, in January 2006 RIX is still the leader in the Baltics in terms of passenger volume:

Riga: 160,378 (59% increase vs. Jan 05)
Tallinn: 100,058 (18% increase)
Vilnius: 89,613 (18% increase)

Number of flights:

Riga: 2639 (16% increase)
Tallinn: 2333 (9% increase)
Vilnius: 3013 (1% decrease)

In terms of Cargo Tallinn took the leadership in this January:

Tallinn: 527 tn (46% increase)
Riga: 524 tn (32% decrease)
Vilnius: 405 tn (4% increase)

Also Riga airport just changed the design of their website (www.riga-airport.com). Personally, I don't like it as much as the old one. It is much less interactive. I am just hoping it is a temporary edition until they open a new terminal this spring.

British Airways in the future the flights to Riga will operate from Gatwick Airport and not Heathrow. Didn't like Gatwick airport - it was old. So I am sceptical about it. I have no idea why it was done. I understand that Heathrow might bevery busy, but why Riga flight is moved and other flights left? Is this something to do with the fatc that Riga is now inside EU??

Or Heathrow is simply more expensive and is used for expensiev flights - transatlantic flights and flights to not very popular destinations like eastern Europe. The price for flight to Riga have decreased over the past years so the companies are forced to use cheaper Gatwick airport.

Friday evening I was in RIX to meet a friend, and checked out the new terminal. They have opened now part of it to the visitors. So now departures will get couple of other check in desks, theu have finally bigger waiting area for visitors, previsouly they didnt have any, except Lido and couple of chairs in the departure area. The interior is as in the previous terminal, means good, there will be more space for airport services now - Hansa Banka is now there too, but other counters were empty. The impression was good, at least something new in the airport, otherwise, it was a bit boring all the time the same.

Air France-KLM ir preparing new line Riga - Paris, although the exact date when the flights will start is not known yet. There is planned to start serivicing Riga - Amsterdam as well, using larger planes than before. KLM is flying Riga - Amsterdam now.
Now there are four flights per week connecting paris and Riga , by Air Baltic.

delete

Statistics for Riga Airport: First two month of 2006 the airport served 307 210 people. This is a 55.1% increase compared to the same period of the previous year.

Air Baltic opens direct line to Tel-Aviv from May this year. Thus there are eight new destinations opened by Air Baltic from Riga this spring.

Norwegian today announced new routes from Oslo to Tallinn and Vilnius. Both routes will be served three times weekly. Norwegian already serves Riga.

Two new airlines coming to Riga:

- "Turkish airlines" in 26th March start flights Riga - Stambul - three times per week. This will be additionally to "air Baltic" floghts to Stambul.

- "Israir" in beginning of June will start flights between Telaviv and Riga, additionally to "air Baltic".

Thus in this summer Riga willl have direct flights to 40 destinations.

delete

And Ryanair and EasyJet?

And new cheap destinations in south?
Why can´t we have for a change instead of british stags spanish or italian ones? It is not fair - all the routes that ryanair has made is for thge interest of people arriving and not for latvians to go- who wants to go to Liverpool? Ryanai cares only about British stags and not latvian ones - we also want to travel to south. New destinations to southern Europe would be very succesfull because thgey wouldnt be only one way movement: they comming here.- That would be 2 way movement: we are going there and they comming here.

I don´t care about Tel Aviva and Istanbul. I need cheap direct flights to Rome and Madrid.

Do you guys know - is it possible to affect Ryanair route planning, by writing letter to somewhere?

@Janis_LV - I consider Ryanair is business company which relies on commercial analysis, not letters.
- - -
Riga aviatechnical centre to be opened in autumn
Swiss "SR Technics Group" together with Latvian "Concors" are developing new industrial facility in Riga airport - large centre for overhaul of airplanes. When I arrived from London last Friday, I noticed the large hangars of "Concors" - they are used for local needs. But they are going to serve other Europe too.
Investment in new industrial facility this year - 10 mio EUR. Construction will be done in May - July, then training of personnel will be started. This will be the most modern and largest airplane overhaul facility in region. Signed contracts with Czech "CSA" and Russian "Sibirj" already, several more under preparation (including servicing of the whole fleet of "EasyJet"). In longer term there is envisaged to service 200 planes per year. This facility is designed mainly for Boeing and Airbus.
Meanwhile it has been decided that technical base of "Ryanair" will be in Polish Rzeszow, not in Riga. Not a big deal - Riga is getting something bigger now.

Started design works for further expansion of Riga airport
Cosntruction of the Northern terminal has been completed a month ago, architect "Arhis" has started design works at further expansion of airport "Riga".
- There will be designed northern pier - this will add additional gates.
- There will be constructed new passenger registration hall, extending the airport towards the car parking area.
In 2006 airport plans to have 2,6 mio passengers but their number should increase very rapidly in coming years - to 10 mio.

[QUOTE=GatisMeanwhile it has been decided that technical base of "Ryanair" will be in Polish Rzeszow, not in Riga. Not a big deal - Riga is getting something bigger now.[/QUOTE]

Was a wise desition - in long term riga would have been too expensive for them, because it is capital and important city in the region, provinvial little town in p[olish province is betetr choice and also need more investmens than Riga. And poland as a whole has advantage of inexhaustible and cheap human recources and latvia cant compete with that.

The investment in Rzeszow is over 100 million Euros so I am not sure how this 10 milion euro investment in Riga can compete. It wasn't about labor costs as labor costs in Latvia are 3 times lower than in Poland (salaries, insurance etc). It was about accessibity to well educated workforce as Rzeszow is at the center of Poland's airline industry (many companies building plane parts, helicopters, planes, support equipment). That's the kind of work will be performed, not low-skilled but highly value-added requiring advanced knowledge in avionics, propulsion, standardization etc. The airport also has a huge runway (one of the longest in Europe - 2800m) and freely available land ready for investment.

Besides Rzeszow is a big city, not a small town.

Aviantion Valley in Rzeszow:

http://dolinalotnicza.pl/pl/1/1/

Welcome to Aviation Valley in southeastern Poland, famous for its aerospace industry and pilot training centers. This region has a heavy concentration of aerospace industry, scientific research centers, as well as educational and training facilities. Aviation Valley is one of the best places in Central Europe for the development and fulfillment of aerospace projects.

The exceptional highlights that Aviation Valley offers:


100 Years of aviation history
70 years of history in the aircraft industry
85% of Polish aerospace industry output
Cost effective work force and production costs
Over 8,000 experienced and dedicated employees
University of Technology with a strong Aerospace Engineering Faculty
Investor friendly environment
Centrally located international airport
Major highway linking southeastern Poland to southwestern Poland and Germany to be completed within the next few years

http://dolinalotnicza.pl//gfx/178/images/1/dolina_1.jpg

The Aviation Valley Association was started on April 11, 2003, as a non-profit organization, as a means to furthering the rapid development and growth of the aerospace industry in southeastern Poland. This historic decision was conceived by a group of leading aeronautic producers, suppliers and businessmen.


The objectives of the Aviation Valley Association:

The organization and development of a low cost supply chain.
The creation of favorable conditions in order to enhance the development of aerospace industry enterprises in this region.
The further development of aerospace research, aptitude and skill.
The cooperation with universities of technology, which would promote new ideas and scientific research within the aerospace industry.
The promotion of the Polish aerospace industry.
The protection of enterprise and businesses in the aerospace industry.
The influence on the Polish government’s economic policy towards the aerospace industry and its domain.


http://dolinalotnicza.pl//gfx/178/images/1/dolina_3.jpg

The Aviation Valley Association currently represents 47 companies within the region, with several others in the process of applying for membership. The number of 100 members is expected to be reached within the next few years. Our most important short and medium term goals are:

to improve the existing manufacturing base.
to create a strong and reliable network of subcontractors and a low-cost supply chain.
to attract foreign investment.
to develop a relationship with other European centers of the aerospace industry.
to promote joint cooperation of the industry with universities of technology, and research centers.
The long-term objective of the Aviation Valley Association is to transform southeastern Poland into one of Europe’s leading aerospace regions, which would be able to provide a diverse cross section of products and services for the most demanding clients.

Was a wise desition - in long term riga would have been too expensive for them, because it is capital and important city in the region, provinvial little town in p[olish province is betetr choice and also need more investmens than Riga. And poland as a whole has advantage of inexhaustible and cheap human recources and latvia cant compete with that.

You forgot to add, that poles breed like rabbits and live in caves. :)

The investment in Rzeszow is over 100 million Euros so I am not sure how this 10 milion euro investment in Riga can compete. It wasn't about labor costs as labor costs in Latvia are 3 times lower than in Poland (salaries, insurance etc). It was about accessibity to well educated workforce as Rzeszow is at the center of Poland's airline industry (many companies building plane parts, helicopters, planes, support equipment). That's the kind of work will be performed, not low-skilled but highly value-added requiring advanced knowledge in avionics, propulsion, standardization etc. The airport also has a huge runway (one of the longest in Europe - 2800m) and freely available land ready for investment.

Besides Rzeszow is a big city, not a small town....
Rzeszow is a big city and Riga is a small town? :D Other sentences look strange too: "labor costs in Latvia are 3 times lower than in Poland " - do you think that Latvia is some poor third world country?

"The airport also has a huge runway (one of the longest in Europe - 2800m)"

Examples:

Siauliai airport in Lithuania has two runways both are 3500m long. (700 meters longer than your "one of the longest in Europe").
Kaunas airport in Lithuania has 3250m long runway. (450 meters longer than your "one of the longest in Europe").

@Dompcz
I think you didn't read into Janis LV post. It was him who was saying, that Rzeszów is a "provinvial little town" and all Jacek did was correcting him, saying that "besides Rzeszow is a big city, not a small town....". Jacek wasn't in any way refering to the size of Riga. If you read his post carefully once again, maybe it will open up to you. :)

As to labour cost, yes, Latvian average salary is €355, while Polish is €645.
That doesn't make it three times cheaper yet, but if you consider the labour social costs, that are currently very burdensome in Poland (one of main reasons of high unemployment in Poland, fortunately now being revised), then the labour cost difference is even bigger for Latvia's benefit.

Hope, that clears things out for you. :)

The airport also has a huge runway (one of the longest in Europe - 2800m) and freely available land ready for investment.


Runaway in Rzeszów is 3200m
official site

http://www.lotnisko-rzeszow.pl/katalog/drogi/en/rz_drogi_startowe.php

Was a wise desition - in long term riga would have been too expensive for them, because it is capital and important city in the region, provinvial little town in p[olish province is betetr choice and also need more investmens than Riga. And poland as a whole has advantage of inexhaustible and cheap human recources and latvia cant compete with that.


well if it was about labor costs Latvia would win because salaries in Poland are at least twice as high as in Latvia.
It was rather about localization and skilled workforce (Rzeszow has long tradition with aviation)

As to labour cost, yes, Latvian average salary is €355, while Polish is €645.
That doesn't make it three times cheaper yet, but if you consider the labour social costs, that are currently very burdensome in Poland (one of main reasons of high unemployment in Poland, fortunately now being revised), then the labour cost difference is even bigger for Latvia's benefit.

Hope, that clears things out for you. :)

This difference is mostly influence of higher minimal wage ;)

there is a new schedule at Gdańsk(Danzig) Lech Wałęsa airport

http://www.airport.gdansk.pl/service/en/index2.php?click=wyloty

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5075/beznazwy10dy.jpg

no we have direct flights to:

Berlin -7 per week
Dortmund - 7
Dublin - 3
Edynburg - 3
Frankfurt - 14
Frankfurt Hahn - 4
Glasgow - 3
Hamburg - 7
Lubeka - 4
Kolonia - 5
Bonn - 5
Copenhagen - 25
Krakow 5
Liverpol - 3
London Luton - 11
London Stansted - 7
Munich - 14
Oslo - 2
Stockholm -6
Warsaw - 55
Wroclaw (Breslau) - 5

haha look at this map above :bash:
I've just called airport and ask them to correct it, what a shame

Good for Rzeszów :)
I hope Riga will developes too.
Any new routes from Riga ?

The investment in Rzeszow is over 100 million Euros so I am not sure how this 10 milion euro investment in Riga can compete. It wasn't about labor costs as labor costs in Latvia are 3 times lower than in Poland (salaries, insurance etc)......

Thanks for very good information, these sounds like real advantages if the Rzeszow city. Well deserved investments even if some facts are not quite true about the runaways and so.

But about human resources - we shouldn compare Poland and Latvia but Riga and Rzsezow. The salaries in Riga are a bit higher than average Latvia and Rzeszow I suppose has a bit lower wages than in west of the country or Warschau. But even if the wages are lower, already now there is a lack of people for work, unemployment at the end of 2005 was 4% in Riga, and there are many reports about lack of people for both skilled and simple works. And in the future it can become an obstacle. Polands millions of unemploed people will be unexhaustible recource still for many years. And there will not only work ingeneurs in Rzeszow but also many simply workers will be needed. And Riga has no free people to offer for such jobs.

Latest statistics from Riga:

In March serviced 183 427 passengers. (last year in March 131 963, +39% comparing to last year)
In first three months - 490 637 passengers (last year 329 995, +48,7% comparing to last year)

Riga still increasing fast!
They got good income too - what is surprising because airport prepared for loss in 2005 due to their low-price policy.

Tallinn in first three months = 325 274 (+18%), March = 126 240 (+20,3%)
Vilnius in first three months = 265 610 (+15%), March = 95 769 (+ 8%)

Riga Airport director Dzintars Pomers told press today airport's plans and expectations. There are planned massive works, new terninals coming, runway will be made longer to 3200 m (suitable for inter continental flights). All kinds of works will continue through the years and this year is planned to serve 2,6 mln and by 2013 - 10 mln passengers, Pomers said.
Good news I would say, although a minus is that the passengers will feel this - construction all the time.

Construction of the Northern pier will start this year, but in the next year there will start extension of passenger terminal, increasing it two times. All of this to be completed in 2009. Costs - 70 mio EUR.
As @LatvianGG says, in this year starts extension of runway - costs 20 mio EUR. As the runway will be extended, some Japanese and Korean airlines might be coming to Riga, conversations on-going.

Wow..good news for Riga...I am happy for u guys!

The new 10000 sq. m. Northern Terminal at RIX was officially open today. As Gatis has mentioned the next stage is construction of a new pier with 6 jetways. The construction of the new pier, which will be adjacent to the Northern Terminal will begin this summer and should be completed in 2007.

Latest statistics from Riga:

In March serviced 183 427 passengers. (last year in March 131 963, +39% comparing to last year)
In first three months - 490 637 passengers (last year 329 995, +48,7% comparing to last year)

Riga still increasing fast!
They got good income too - what is surprising because airport prepared for loss in 2005 due to their low-price policy.

I was especially happy when profit of RIX was announced for 2005. I was concerned too. Their strategy proved to be sustainable - low price, big turnover. I am now worried about airBaltic - they havent announced results for 2005 yet, have they? 2004 was losses...
Anyway things are going to change there as SAS is more and more willing to become the owner of controlling stake in airBaltic Crp. Could this affect the plans of airBaltic to link east and west through RIX. CPH doesnt need any rivals...

I think both Helsinki and Copenhagen don't want Riga becoming an airport of regional importance; I'm glad at this point our airport is run by pretty intelligent people, who are trying their best (I hope) to make Riga as one of regional centers

I am now worried about airBaltic - they havent announced results for 2005 yet, have they?

Yes they have...

Last year airBaltic transported a total of 1,04 million passengers over the year, an increase of 76% over 2004 and gained a 41% market share at Riga airport and 24.9% in Vilnius.

airBaltic’s revenues reached EUR 120.4 million (LVL 84.62 million) in 2005, an increase of 64% over the total in 2004. However, due to the extraordinary costs in the amount of EUR 4 million resulted from the redelivery of AVRO aircraft, the airline’s overall net result for 2005 was a loss of EUR 1.88 million (1,32 MLVL). Without the extraordinary costs airBaltic’s net result for 2005 would have been EUR 2.07 million profit.

Full article is here...airBaltic announces financial result for 2005 (http://www.airbaltic.com/public/28801.html)

"Air Baltic" starts flying to Bergen. Costs of ticket start from some 17 EUR.

"Turkish Airlines" - newcomer in Riga. Flying three times per week Stambul - Riga. So far this line was serviced by "air Baltic" only.

Ryanair is now flying to 5 destinations from Kaunas and to 6 destinations from Riga. So now we can say there is no need for lithuanians to fly to through Riga to anywhere, except for people in North Lithuania like Siaulia or Panevezys fro whom Riga is as near as Kaunas.

What I am really dissapointed about - is that Ryanair is flying from Kaunas to the same destinations as from Riga. Precisely same destinations. I would be more happy if there is a bigger choice of destinations in the region.

Anotehr thing what is very obvious - when you check their destinations from different airports. It is still very UK and Ireland centred. Looks like their are servicing only Uk and Ireland peopel and with soem exceptiosn also the richer countries. All other countries and especially countries of eastern Europe are serviced only as far as it is necessary fro rich countries - either fro them to go cheap drink places in east. Or as in case of Poland for the poles to go to work to UK. That poles and latvians might not want only to go to UK for work but want also travel to souther resorts - about that O Leary has not been thinking about. And after very rush expension of destinatiosn from Baltics - they stopped, doesnt look that they are goign to open new destinations in near future - No Brussels route, no Rome route. If they will open another Riga Midlands or Riga Glasgow I shall scream!!!



Compare destinatiosn from Riga and from Stockholm:

Stockholm:

London
Paris
Rome
Barcelona
Brussels
Milan
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Dusseldorf
Glasgow

plus in east:

Kaunas, Riga, Gdansk.

And Riga:

Dublin :(
Liverpool :(
Tampere :(
Stockholm :(

The only interesting routes are to Londona and Frankfurt.

Compared what Stockholm has Riga is just sad.

And I am sure route to Paris, Rome, Milan, Barcelona Brussles from Riga would be as profitable as from Stockholm.

Hope Swedes will pass that new tax law, that will force Ryanair pay more taxe for environment or soemthing and Ryanair will move to Riga with all these wonderfull destinations.

/\ In time my friend.. Which airport do Ryanair use in Riga? The main itl?

Or as in case of Poland for the poles to go to work to UK. That poles and latvians might not want only to go to UK for work but want also travel to souther resorts - about that O Leary has not been thinking about.

Ryanair is just one of many low cost airlines in Poland. There are maybe 10+ different carriers. Centralwings alone flies to 15 southern european destinations.

/\ Isn't Wizz air polish?

It's owned by a Hungarian businessman and some international investors but most of its operations are in Poland. So to answer your question - it can't really be considered Polish, more Hungarian/International and it is usually referred as a Hungarian low cost airline in the press.

Yeah thanks... Well I don't know anythin about the company, but I know it has a terrible reputation! :P

/\ In time my friend.. Which airport do Ryanair use in Riga? The main itl?

Yes, Ryanair flies to main international airport, in fact the only one in Riga. But the airport has a very mild tax policy, made specially to attract low-cost carriers - and it has worked - Ryanair and Easyjet have arrived, and national carrier AirBaltic is expanding rapidly because of the low taxes in Riga as well.

I think both Helsinki and Copenhagen don't want Riga becoming an airport of regional importance; I'm glad at this point our airport is run by pretty intelligent people, who are trying their best (I hope) to make Riga as one of regional centers
I don't really understand how you think here. How could Copenhagen Airport(especially) not appreciate increasing air traffic from the Baltics? It means more feedig passengers from the Baltics to Copenhagen, and then from Copenhagen out in the big world. It's a win-win-situation, for all.

CPH and RIX (for example) will never be competators. :)

I don't really understand how you think here. How could Copenhagen Airport(especially) not appreciate increasing air traffic from the Baltics? It means more feedig passengers from the Baltics to Copenhagen, and then from Copenhagen out in the big world. It's a win-win-situation, for all.

CPH and RIX (for example) will never be competators. :)


If you read carefully you would understand - there were worries that SAS could get the controlling share of airBaltic if the goverment decides to sell it. Because SAS is lobbying Copenhagen, but since already couple of years becaus of succesfull airBaltic management Copenhagen has lost its importance as transit for Baltic passengers. From the first place as the most popular destination it is now somewhere at the end after Lonond, Frankfurt Berlin and others. Baltics now have direct connections with many airports. And even for transatlantic connections SAS can't compete with BA, KLM or even Finnair. And SAS because of that is loosing money. They would be the first ones to stop this development and force baltic peopel to travel 3 times more expensiev through CPH.
Thats why I think goverment shouldnt sell the shares to SAS. Now thanks to airBaltic we not only avoid going to CPH but we are being competetiros - RIX is to become improtant transit point fro passnegers travelling to former Soviet union cities. Connections with airBaltic through Riga are cheaper to cities like Baku,Tblisi, Dnepropetrovsk, Simferopol, Odessa than connections done by LUfthansa or BA.

i can see where this is going... In the future, Riga will be the main airport in S&B (hehe) Tallinn the main seaport (not that unrealistic :D) and Vilnius?

Though, Staff... I think Riga and CPH will be competitors...

i can see where this is going... In the future, Riga will be the main airport in S&B (hehe) Tallinn the main seaport (not that unrealistic :D) and Vilnius?

Though, Staff... I think Riga and CPH will be competitors...

Kaunas/Vilnius - main railroad center in S&B (Warsaw-Tallinn line &Kaunas-Minsk line :D )

i can see where this is going... In the future, Riga will be the main airport in S&B (hehe)

Well, maybe - if CPH and other big airports of S&B will stop grow and develope, and RIX will develope in current speed - in maybe 20-30 years it will, who knows... :D

i can see where this is going... In the future, Riga will be the main airport in S&B (hehe) Tallinn the main seaport (not that unrealistic :D) and Vilnius?


The main economic and political centre ;).

If you read carefully you would understand - there were worries that SAS could get the controlling share of airBaltic if the goverment decides to sell it. Because SAS is lobbying Copenhagen, but since already couple of years becaus of succesfull airBaltic management Copenhagen has lost its importance as transit for Baltic passengers. From the first place as the most popular destination it is now somewhere at the end after Lonond, Frankfurt Berlin and others. Baltics now have direct connections with many airports. And even for transatlantic connections SAS can't compete with BA, KLM or even Finnair. And SAS because of that is loosing money. They would be the first ones to stop this development and force baltic peopel to travel 3 times more expensiev through CPH.
Thats why I think goverment shouldnt sell the shares to SAS. Now thanks to airBaltic we not only avoid going to CPH but we are being competetiros - RIX is to become improtant transit point fro passnegers travelling to former Soviet union cities. Connections with airBaltic through Riga are cheaper to cities like Baku,Tblisi, Dnepropetrovsk, Simferopol, Odessa than connections done by LUfthansa or BA.

Never, ever sell anything to SAS!! Just read what has happened when SAS bought Braathens...the worst merge in history!

Never, ever sell anything to SAS!! Just read what has happened when SAS bought Braathens...the worst merge in history!
Actually SAS was great ... 10 years ago :) Actually i don't understand, what happened- why is SAS doing so bad?

Yeah, in January 2006 RIX is still the leader in the Baltics in terms of passenger volume:

Riga: 160,378 (59% increase vs. Jan 05)
Tallinn: 100,058 (18% increase)
Vilnius: 89,613 (18% increase)



These numbers don't quite make sense to me.
In Lithuanian airports passenger traffic is as follows:

Vilnius - 1 281 872 (2005 figure)
Kaunas (Karmelava) (expected 2006) ~ 300'000
Palanga ~ 104'000

ho dont they make sense?
And damn Riga is doing so well, but i still dont understand how they can manage all those passengers, i think why Tallinn is lagging behind is simply because our terminal cant handle any more ;), but it will change once the extention will get built!

ho dont they make sense?


What?

I mean how dont they make sence?
Btw the figure for Tallinn airport is wrong.. the correct one is
100,060

I also have the March Figure - 126 240.. thats 20% up from last year

The Vilnius figure is completely wrong. That's how :)

well whats the correct number? the ones you gave were the annual figures!

Oh yeah. Sorry, my bad.

14 direct flights from Palanga already:

BERLIN
BILLUND
COLOGNE
COPENHAGEN
DUBLIN
FRANKFURT MAIN
HAMBURG
HANOVER
LONDON
MOSCOW
MUNCHEN
OSLO
St. PETERSBURG
VILNIUS

Techincal project of passenger terminal expansion is being prepared atm. In a few years it should be capable to handle up to 0,25mln. passengers per year.

Estonian air got new airplane - 737-300. Airplane named - Sohni, the names of estonian air planes come from our epic "Kalevipoeg"
the other five airplanes (DONT LAUGH YOU SCANDIS :D) are 737-500s with a smaller seating capacity.

Btw this is the biggest airplane in the Baltic fleet

ho dont they make sense?
And damn Riga is doing so well, but i still dont understand how they can manage all those passengers, i think why Tallinn is lagging behind is simply because our terminal cant handle any more ;), but it will change once the extention will get built!


Tallinn "need" Ryanair and British stags. They are the ones who travell in winter too. One EasyJet is not enough.

/\ and you quoted me because? Sry but i dont see a connection. Maybe i misunderstood, can you clearify

/\ and you quoted me because? Sry but i dont see a connection. Maybe i misunderstood, can you clearify

??

Gdansk - 78,724 pax in march, 204, 366 pax for 3 months

Breaking news from Riga Airport:

Airport's president Dzintars Pomers today announced that this year there will be elaborated a project for a new runway which will not be smaller than the current one. :pepper:
This will be necessary to handle the growing air traffic in Riga Airport, which as we know is likely to continue to grow significantly due to the current and upcoming further development. Total costs will be appr. 300 mln LS or some 400 mln Euro. :naughty: As I understand from the article in delfi.lv the construction would start when RIX reaches 6 mln passenger mark. Funds would be taken from EU or local goverment. Prognosis teach that the new runway would be in service after 6-10 years.
A 10 mln passenger are expected to be served by 2013. :|

/\well its naturat to say that well build a new runway when we hit 6 mio. Usually a runway cant handle any more and you NEED a newone to keep up with the demand :)

Yes, but here RIX is really preparing for second runway to be started in few years when we will exceed 6 mio

Latest data from Riga airport:

In April there were 195 040 passengers, 3072 flights.
In four months of 2006 there were 685 677 passengers (+46,1% comparing to last year), 11 183 flights (+10,2%)
It is expected that airport will serve 2,6 mio passengers, but... should be more.

In these days flights to Tbilisi and Baku start (both by "Air Baltic"), frequency of flights to Oslo increases.

Announced tender for extension of airstrip in Riga.

Comparison of Baltic airports now:
In first four months of 2006, no of passengers:

Riga - 685 677 (+46,1%)
Tallinn - 452537 (+16,7%)
Vilnius - 375 546 (+14,2%)

Flights:
Riga - 11 183 (+10,2%)
Tallinn - 10 231 (+5,8%)
Vilnius - 8 740 (-1,1%)

Cargo:
Riga - 3 088 tonns (-49,4%)
Tallinn - 3 407
Vilnius - 1 668

In April, passengers:
Riga - 195 040 (+40%)
Tallinn - 127 263 (+13,6%)
Vilnius - 109 936 (+12,2%)

NEW flights announced in April between Kaunas, LT and:
Billund, DK (from 11 May '06 on DAT)
Liverpool (from 3 Oct. '06 on Ryanair)
Frankfrut Hahn (from 25 Oct. '06 on Ryanair)

Also, a newcomer low-cost operator to Lithuanian market Norwegian Air Shuttle started flights between Vilnius and Oslo on May 2.

Rumors have it that Iberia and Turkish Airlines will soon link Vilnius to Barcelona and Istanbul with direct flights.

Lithuanian Airlines/FlyLAL to be acquired by Swedish FlyMe per announcement made back in February. FlyMe is the fastest growing low-fare airline in Sweden, with bases in Stockholm and Gothenburg. Hopefully this will shake up things a bit in Lithuania's commercial aviation market which has so far been somewhat lethargic :drool: when compared to Latvia and Estonia. :runaway:

Don't know how it's in other cities, but in my opinion Riga airport is expensive (well atleast for car drivers) ...
I went to pick up a friend of the family ... it was my first time there with a car ... the first thing that surprised me is that there is no free parking space (even for very very very short term like 15 min) ... well I was there about an hour before the plane landed so I parked about 1h 30min ... it coasted me 2Ls (~3Euro) ... and the thing that makes it worst was printed on the back of the parking ticket "PARK AT YOUR OWN RISK" in latvian is explained a bit more "The park supervisors are not responsible for your car" :rant: :rant: :rant: so what the fuck I payed the money for???? I think it's even cheaper to park my car where it's not allowed cuz the chance of being cought is so small

oh comeon! 3 euros for 1h 30min!

Thats cheap by even Estonian standards....

checked the fee for the parking at our airport... actually its 50% cheaper here, so hmm...1.20 €something per hour.

but still 3 euros is nothing to complain about

/\ Airports are always expensive to park at.

But if you compare that to the prices in CIty center ... where for 3 Euros you can park for:
2h - Near Opera and City Hall (most expensive parking in Riga)
2h 30min - on the so called Bouelvards (Between city chanel and Esplanade, Vermanes darzs)
3h 20min - actually everywhere in the center
and even 5h near the Riga Castle (it's free to park here on weekends)

/\ well its cheap to park in central riga than.
its around 2 euros per hour in most parking houses and lots in the centre here.

Air Baltic starts flying Riga - Telaviv on 5th June. This will be the only airline in Baltics and Scandinavia having direct flights to Telaviv.
Costs - some 200 EUR one way.

According to DELFI.lt the winning bid worth €30 million was awarded to "YIT Kausta". In addition to constructing a new terminal at VNO, reconstruction and expansion of the current terminal, baggage and arrival areas as well as facade rennovations should be completed by October 2007. Once finished expanded airport will be able to handle 3 million visitors annually. :cheer:

Check out visualizations including animated 3d renders at development.lt:

http://www.development.lt/index.php/investment_projects/infrastructure_industry_logistics/20_expansion_of_vilnius_international_airport/photos/simulations/396

Good project in Vilnius!
...
"Boeing" top representatives are in Latvia now - there is starting joint project on servicing "Boeing" airplanes in shops at Riga airport. At the end of this year the works will start. If all goes successfully, Latvia will get new industry with few hundred mio EUR turnover per year.

Riga's airport growth perspectives are impressive! 10 million by 2013 :eek:

The other day I booked an AirBaltic flight from Berlin to Vilnius for 92 euro, its on a Fokker 50, I have never flown in a turbo prop, what are they like ?

PS - the AirBaltic website was fairly easy to use.

as i understand the middle terminal section will go UC?

3mio? For that little thing? be realistic, i dont understand your standards!
Our expansion with 9 gates (of which 2 have double bridges - for big planes 747, 777 etc) will be able to take 2.4 mio

its on a Fokker 50, I have never flown in a turbo prop, what are they like ?

Once I flew it from Stockholm to Riga - was funny - but not bad at all. Small airplane, cosy feel, you feel the travel a lot more than with conventional large airplanes. Of course, uneven "road" in the air feels better.

30 mio EUR is not such a large sum now - of Vilnius reconstructs whole airport and builds new part. Comparatively small extension of Riga airport was 10 mio EUR worth last year.

Air Baltic starts flying Riga - Telaviv on 5th June. This will be the only airline in Baltics and Scandinavia having direct flights to Telaviv.
Costs - some 200 EUR one way.
For 25 days there is ;)

I agree with Gatis: 30 mio EUR does sound like a small amount for something this complex. But lets hope they do it right. I am just glad they are finally doing something to improve VNO.

Ch1le - I believe it is the middle section (4 new gates with arms). The left terminal is a vision for the future which is not clear at this point. There is talk of building a new airport between Kaunas and Vilnius that will become the main international hub for the country. If this happens, VNO will become a small regional airport or be shut down altogether.

/\ yeah i belive the same thing, thats why i wonder where did they get the 3 mio figure, when Tallinn airport extension with 9 gates said they will handle 2.6 mio. (or was it 1.8)

/\ yeah i belive the same thing, thats why i wonder where did they get the 3 mio figure, when Tallinn airport extension with 9 gates said they will handle 2.6 mio. (or was it 1.8)

By the way: It's 30 million, not 3 million. :gossip:

/\ 30 mio euro yes :) But not 30 mio passangers ;) And usually, anyone can handle unlimited quantaties of money :D but not passengers =)

Once I flew it from Stockholm to Riga - was funny - but not bad at all. Small airplane, cosy feel, you feel the travel a lot more than with conventional large airplanes. Of course, uneven "road" in the air feels better.


I'll give you my opinion on airBaltic & turboprops after I have flown with them in just over three weeks time.

I would have liked to have visited Riga & Tallinn as well but unfortnately I just wont have enough time and I will only explore Vilnius & Krakow on this trip.

:cheers:

Those two cities are absolutely worth visiting for sure. Have a good time :)

/\ 30 mio euro yes :) But not 30 mio passangers ;) And usually, anyone can handle unlimited quantaties of money :D but not passengers =)

ch1le: sorry for a slight misunderstanding—my bad. :nuts:

As far as maximum passengers handled, Lithuanians must be much quicker at embarking/disembarking than Estonians and therefore can turn airplanes around much quicker. Therefore, VNO can get by with 1/2 the space of TLL! :rofl: :runaway:

Sabunjar: have a fabulous time in Krakow and Vilnius!

Cheers gents, when I get back home I will post threads on my impressions of Berlin, Vilnius & Krakow. Am looking forward to it.


:cheers:

Riga - Kaliningrad flights to be started on 2nd July. Serviced by "air Baltic". Four flights per week.
- - -
"Ryanair" promises to start several new routes from Riga this year and several more - next spring. Next year they plan to service at least 1 mio passengers through Riga. They plan to develop strong support unit in Riga airport.

well, Gatis, you are too shy, I see :) even if it is still unofficial, seems like Ryanair has decided to choose Riga airport for its service base; it means - a lot of construction (repair facilities for aircraft, HQ, hotels, new infrastructure etc) + up to 100 new routes to all over Europe :D in addition, Boeing also has some plans for Riga airport, but this info is too far from even being unofficial ;)

@vanniken - rumours still say that Riga will not be "Ryanair" base, it will be in Poland instead. Riga will just get stronger "Ryanair" presence.
Do you have other information?

:) Just booked Ryanair flight Frankfurt-Hahn - Riga for 4 July... :) Cost me €89,00 for 2 persons one way. It is for €200 cheaper for me to get from Amsterdam to Cologne by train, then by shuttle bus to Hahn-airport and then fly from there to Riga then use straight away service by KLM...

as i said, Gatis, it is still unofficial, but here's the link:
http://www.tvnet.lv/onlinetv/lnt/zinas/article.php?id=195509
(in latvian)

Construction of SAS Flight Academy in Riga airport started
Today in Riga airport started construction of new educational institution - academy for airline related personel - pilots, stewards, other srevice personnel, employees of airports.
First agreement about education has been made with local "air Baltic" - over the next five years there will be prepared new staff for this company.
- - -
Thanks, @vanniken.
Translation from this link:
Irish entrepeneurs consider their success in Riga phenomenally successful...
Davin O'Brian says: Our future plans in Riga are very ambitious. We want to develop our business in Riga further...
Unofficial information says: in next autumn in Riga airport there will start working "Ryanair" base. Company will build its own hangars, locate here its personnel (my own addition - most would be Latvian speaking because they have plans to relocate back here their Latvian staff from Ireland), offices, hotels. From Riga there would be direct flights to more than 100 destinations abroad by "Ryanair"...
"Ryanair" is not the only company having giant plans for Riga. "Boeing" is considering to locate its regional service centre in Riga.
I am afraid that this might mean end to "air Baltic" - but let's see.

I am afraid that this might mean end to "air Baltic" - but let's see.

This might happen - Ryanair has taken over many routes from other companies...
But to "end" AirBaltic" , I think it is impossible... AirBaltic ain't stupid - their policy is clever enough. They intent to become a bir roleplayer in air-connections between western Europe and former USSR republics, except Russia. They have already some 7-8 destinations in ex-USSR. Unless Ryanair is interested to go there, AirBAltic will survive.

Wow! I am impressed with all the new infrastructure and route expansion Riga is getting. :applause: This is all terrific news. I would be thrilled to see a transatlantic hub in the Baltics and be able to fly directly from U.S. someday! :horse:

/\oh! Dont worry about that! The only reason why we dont have transatlantic flights right now is because we still have that VISA thing! :) There would be enough need for a line :)
So as soon as the visa goes, shoosh! Youll see transatlantic flights ;)

well, varlamas, even if it is still far from being transatlantic hub, Riga has one transatlantic route - Tashkent - Riga - NewYork :) so, you actually CAN fly from New York to Riga directly.. unfortunately, Ryanair expansion doesn't contribute that much to your dream coming true, 'cause, as you probably know, low-fare airlines work on EU market mostly

Latest statistics from Riga airport:

In first five months - 899 877 passengers (in 2005 - 630 302, thus - 42,8% increase)

In May - 214 200 passengers (+33,1%), 3737 flights. Five flights per hour.

/\ sick! SICK, SICK!

Gatis i still dont understand how that is possible, how does that tiny airport manage so many passengers, it totally over capacity! It DOESNT make sence, the only reason why Tallinn isnt growing atm like Riga is because the airport is MAXED out... im confused

hmm, Riga airport definitely is not tiny, don't understand where you got that impression.. I've recently been there, the new terminal was almost empty + i've never seen "tax-free" area being packed, so even with existing space, RIX still has potential; + i've never experienced seeing more than 6-7 "check-in" desks operating simultaneously.. anyway, as i understoon, they are prepared for rapid growth and have plans for expansion

Well, you should see the check in zone in the morning - around 7:00!! Year ago I was going back from Riga to Amsterdam and there are many flights between 7:00 and 9:00, mostly AirBaltic, so all Airbaltic's check-in desks were open and with a huge queue in front of each one of them....

I flew AirBaltic RIX-Istanbul last summer on an early morning departure. The check-in area was p-a-c-k-e-d. Once inside the terminal, after passport control though things were running very smoothly and it didn't feel overloaded with passengers. I was impressed with the terminal. :cool:

Funny observation: the flight attendant announcements in English (once airborn) were incomprehensible!

vanniken: any info on how Uzbekistan Airlines route RIX-JFK is doing? I remember hearing about it a while back but am curious on success of that route. I might be crazy but I swear I remember Gatis talking a while back about Thai Airways considering RIX as their euro hub.

@ch1le - I am pretty sure that lack of space in TLN airport is not deciding the lover figures comparing with Riga. If Tallinn airport really would be packed with people all the time, airport would be in hurry to build additional space.
- - -
@varlamas - there really were rumours about some large Asian companies considering more activities in Riga. We are still waiting for their answer. Such decisions are taken over some 2 - 3 years time or even longer. Ryanair also will say their final answer may be only in 2007 - although rumours about their base are since early 2005.

You can see in left side of this rendering how Riga airport terminal will expand - towards the city, covering the access roads and the planned future rised tram line (which is also under planning now).
Airport city (central part of picture) is under active development now.
http://img275.imageshack.us/img275/5666/lidosta19qh.jpg

@Gatis

The airport is in a dire hurry to expand, they are looking for a tender for construction as we speak. It has been said quite many times that airlines are said no because airport is maxing out already.

varlamas, frankly speaking, I don't have any idea about the results of UzAir regarding this line, or their service; I know only one human being who went to NewYork from Riga by UzAir airplane, but don't have any detailed info on that.. I remember checking prices myself, for a trip to U.S., and it is still cheaper to go thru Helsinki

Gdańsk in April served 101 000 pax

http://gdansk.naszemiasto.pl/gospodarka/607699.html

...Thai Airways considering RIX as their euro hub.
Their "Euro Hub"? Are you kidding me?

Their "Euro Hub"? Are you kidding me?

Those are the rumors... :gossip:

^^
Sorry, but that would never happen. :)

nah, theres something like 10 such "hubs" in europe. it doesnt mean 100 new destinations, Riga will just be home base to the planes which means they will sit there, fuel there, and fly to Tallinn and than from there to London
Or to some polish city and to London ;)
Will bring hefty landing tax money to Riga but no passengers ;)

ch1le: in your scenario don't forget about all the transit passengers that would connect through RIX.

and flight would have to skip TLL and go directly to LHR since Estonians take quite a long time to deplane :jk: