Airport, Latvia, Tourism, Transport

''At the moment we are testing things out, but we will officially begin out taxi service at the end of the month, then we will give out more information about the service,'' said Vanags.

As the newspaper Dienas Bizness wrote two weeks ago, airBaltic in cooperation with businessman Janis Naglis' company Baltic Taxi will launch a new taxi service this August.

Total investments in the development of the new venture and purchases of taxis are estimated at LVL 1.5-2 million, as the newspaper has found out.

A Dienas Bizness reporter has managed to take a picture of some twenty "Toyota Yaris" cars at the Wess Motors dealership, all painted in the airBaltic corporate colors. The newspaper informs that 50 cars have been ordered at Wess Motors altogether.

Wess Motors told the newspaper that the cars had been ordered not by airBaltic but another legal entity.

Dienas Bizness informs that all the cars carry the "Baltic Taxi" logo, which is the name of Naglis' company that he founded in 2003.

Another company of Naglis, Islande Hotel, already provides the Airport Express coach service from the Riga Airport to downtown Riga in cooperation with airBaltic.

Sources informed the newspaper though that Baltic Taxi taxis will work at not only the Riga Airport but the entire territory of Riga.

According to unofficial information, boarding a Baltic Taxi will cost LVL 1.5, and the ride will be LVL 0.5 per kilometer, which is exactly as much as the largest taxi company in Riga, Rigas taksometru parks and its "Red Cab" taxis charge passengers.

Dienas Bizness writes that the plans of Baltic Taxi and airBaltic is bad news to other taxi companies, especially Red Cab and Riga Taxi.

In the past, airBaltic on several occasions urged the authorities to bring order to the taxi business in Riga.