Airport, Investments, Latvia, Transport

Luhse explained that the airport is currently designed to service three million passengers each year. The number of passengers is not the only consideration for expansion plans, there are also several other issues hampering the airport's operations, for example – the passenger flows from the Schengen Area and other countries are not sufficiently separated, writes LETA.

The situation is made worse by the fact that the flights are cyclic. Morning and evening flights are performed more frequently, causing the so-called rush hours.

Luhse believes that the project should have been implemented by the airport's former CEOs, when there were sufficient funds.

The airport plans to implement its terminal expansion project, which will allow to service up to seven million passengers per year. Luhse estimates that the airport, in theory, could service 10-12 million passengers per year, if they are attracted from all Baltic States.

The lack of funding is the main issue in this regard. During the next two years, the airport will not have enough money to develop the terminal, emphasized Luhse.

The government also cannot afford to fund the project and the airport assesses two potential project implementation scenarios – investor attraction and EU funds for the next planning period (post-2014).