Airport, Latvia, Legislation, Transport

Participants in the airport council meeting confirmed to the newspaper that the "crisis tariffs" will make the Riga Airport's charges the lowest in Northern Europe.

Already today or next week at the latest, the government will consider the new tariffs of the Riga Airport, which will be over two times lower than the current tariffs and set at around three to four euros (LVL 2.1 to LVL 2.8) per passenger, as chairwoman of the airport's council Baiba Broka (For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK) confirmed to the newspaper.

It is planned that the tariffs could become effective as of November 2009 and remain unchanged for one year, after which their impact would be assessed.

This means that airBaltic and Ryanair, who were granted 80% tax breaks at the Riga Airport, will lose their privileges and see their costs increase. The president of the airport Krisjanis Peters says he expects objections from Ryanain, but so far there have been no signs that the airline might consider leaving Riga.

Peters comments that his priority now is to make the airport meet the Competition Council's requirements.

airBaltic refuses to comment on the decision before the government has confirmed it, and does not reveal if it will raise ticket prices to cover the increase in costs.