In July, Riga Airport served 187.4 thousand passengers, which is 132 thousand passengers more than a month before. However, in general, as compared to last year, the number of passengers served at Riga Airport has decreased significantly: in the first seven months of 2020, only 1.5 million passengers were served at the Airport, which is a drop of more than 65% as compared to the corresponding period last year.
The majority or 66% of the passengers handled in July were carried by the national airline airBaltic, 13% by the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair and 11% by the Hungarian low-cost carrier WizzAir. The number of passengers who use Riga Airport as a convenient transfer point for their further travel is gradually increasing: the number of transit and transfer passengers in July accounted for 24% of the total number of passengers. The most popular destinations from Riga in July were Oslo, London, Helsinki, Frankfurt and Tallinn, whereas the fullest aircraft were recorded on holiday routes to Greece, Cyprus and the south of France.
In July, 3278 flights were served at the Airport; in the first seven months of this year – more than 22 thousand flights. It is 55.8% less than in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In July, the largest number of flights – 2070 flights – were operated by scheduled passenger carriers, but a significant share – almost 25% of the total number of flights – were business aviation and cargo flights. In the seventh month of the year, 556 business aviation aircraft landed and took off at Riga Airport, while cargo carriers performed 243 flights, delivering 2030 tonnes of cargo to be serviced at Riga Airport. A total of 11.9 thousand tonnes of cargo were handled at Riga Airport during the first seven months of the year, which is 23.3% less than last year.
The Polish airline LOT Polish Airlines and the Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian resumed their operations at Riga Airport in July, thus currently a total of seven airlines operate flights from Riga to 49 destinations.
All passengers entering Latvia must fill in a confirmation with a commitment to comply with the epidemiological safety measures established in Latvia and, if necessary, ensure self-isolation.