Airport, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Latvia, Transport

At the same time, the number of flights to several other destinations – Kiev, Munich, Warsaw, Helsinki and others – will be increased, and the airport expects that its passenger turnover will reach five million at the end the year, which would be a 8.7% increase on 2010, when the airport serviced 4.6 million passengers, writes LETA.

Bunka-Briljonka informs that, already from October 30, the Irish low-fare airline Ryanair will launch flights to Leeds, which will be the airline's sixth route from Latvia to the United Kingdom.

Elina Hakkarainen, Ryanair Sales and Marketing Executive in Nordics and Baltics, said: "Ryanair is very pleased to open the new route from Riga to Leeds Bradford. Leeds is the commercial and cultural capital of the North of England and a highly popular city break destination. Leeds Bradford airport is also the ideal gateway to the Yorkshire region, which features some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes."

This winter, Ryanair operates 15 low fares routes to/from Riga.

On December 9, the Hungarian low-fare airline Wizz Air will open a new route to Eindhoven. Balazs Varro, Wizz Air Corporate Communications Manager, said that the new destination is a gate to an important European cultural and business region, including Amsterdam, Brussels and North-West Germany.

The Finnish airline Finnair, will increase the number of flights in the winter season as well: 17 flights per week are scheduled to Helsinki. Russia's Aeroflot will fly to Sheremetyevo (Moscow) twice a day and the Polish airline LOT will operate nine flights per week to Warsaw this winter.

The national airline airBaltic is also planning to increase the number of flights to several destinations – there will be three flights per day to Kiev, two daily flights to Munich and 11 weekly flights to Warsaw. On the other hand, the airline will not operate flights to Amman, Beirut, Dublin, Chisinau, Nice, Tartu and Venice this winter.

The airport reminds that, at 4 a.m. overnight to October 30, Latvia will adjust its clocks one hour backward from the current Daylight Saving Time (DST) or summertime. In order to reach their destinations on time and without problems, the passengers are requested to check the departure time of their flights either by contacting their airline's, visiting the airport's homepage or calling to the airport's inquiries service – "1187".