In June, the airport handled almost 550 thousand passengers, a decrease of 28 percent compared to June 2019.
In January – June this year Riga Airport handled 2.22 million passengers, or the same number of passengers as in the whole of 2020, according to the operational data on the airport's performance in the first half of the year.
In June, the airport handled almost 550 thousand passengers, a decrease of 28 percent compared to June 2019. The reduction rate of passenger numbers has fallen below 30 % for the first time after the crisis caused by the pandemic.
“The post-COVID-19 recovery in the sector is now relatively rapid. In June, we are less than a third behind our pre-pandemic levels. Although the share of transit passengers in Riga has dropped from 30 to 17 % since the ban on flights to Russia and Belarus, we have been able to compensate for this reduction with a wide and convenient range of direct summer destinations, which is already very close to what we offered before the pandemic. Moreover, we have taken care of recruiting the necessary staff in time – the Airport currently employs more staff than before the pandemic, and Riga Airport is currently not significantly affected by the staff shortage observed in large European airports," says Laila Odiņa, Chairperson of the Board of Riga Airport.
Half of all passengers or 279 thousand in June were carried by the national airline “airBaltic”, which also operated the largest number of flights – 2713 flights (53 %), while almost 30 % or 162 thousand passengers used the airline “Ryanair”, which operated 971 flights or around 20 % of all flights.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
