Riga Airport wound up the year 2018 with a significant increase in all its key performance indicators: operational data on the operating results of 2018 show that last year the Airport served 7.06 million passengers – almost 16% more than a year before.
“In order for Riga Airport to achieve its goal of becoming a modern and convenient North European air traffic hub and serving at least ten million passengers a year by 2023, the company's main task for the next five years is to implement the planned passenger and cargo infrastructure projects,” says Ilona Līce, Chairperson of the Board of Riga Airport.
Riga Airport wound up the year 2018 with a significant increase in all its key performance indicators: operational data on the operating results of 2018 show that last year the Airport served 7.06 million passengers – almost 16% more than a year before. The volume of cargo increased by 10.4%, exceeding 27 thousand tons, while the volume of flights increased by 11.5% with Riga Airport handling 83.5 thousand aircraft in 2018.
According to Līce, this increase significantly exceeds the average indicators of European airports – the data of Airport Council International (ACI) show that in the 3rd quarter of 2018 the average number of passengers in Europe increased by only 5%. The rapid increase in its passenger figures last year allowed Riga Airport to repeatedly enter the TOP 5 of fastest growing European airports handling 5-10 million passengers annually. “According to the latest ACI data, Riga Airport was the third fastest growing airport in its group also in the third quarter of last year, only lagging behind Spain's sixth busiest domestic airport in Seville and Sicily's second largest airport Palermo. In turn, in a study recently published by the international aviation data analysis company “VariFlight”, Riga Airport was recognised as the seventh most punctual airport in Europe in 2018,” notes Līce.
“This outcome is the result of purposeful work and long-term strategy. Previous years, we developed aerodrome and infrastructure related to passenger aircraft service, but from this year on we will focus on the expansion of passenger service infrastructure and development of cargo sector. In today's global world, well-developed infrastructure and low costs are the main weapons of competition among airports,” says Līce.
In 2019, the Airport will begin the implementation of terminal expansion stage 6, under which a new public terminal and the related infrastructure will be constructed. The new terminal will have both a modern and spacious passenger check-in area, a security control area and baggage reclaim and sorting facilities, as well as restaurants, cafés and shops. This will solve passenger service capacity issues that are currently being dealt with by introducing temporary improvements in the public part of the old terminal built in 1974, for example by extending the existing baggage belts, accommodating additional baggage sorting facilities, expanding the waiting area before security controls and increasing the number of check-in desks.
“The new Airport terminal will be connected to the “Rail Baltica” railway station, creating a unified passenger service complex and providing passengers with a convenient and fast connection not only to the capital of Latvia, but also to the entire “Rail Baltica” railway network covering the Baltic States, Poland and Finland,” says Līce.
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