Riga International Airport

Riga International Airport
Rīgas Starptautiskā Lidosta
IATA: RIXICAO: EVRA
RIX
Location of airport in Riga
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Government of Latvia
(Joint stock company)
Location Mārupe municipality, Latvia
Hub for airBaltic
Elevation AMSL 36 ft / 11 m
Website riga-airport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
18/36 3,200 10,500 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Number of Passengers 5,106,893
Source (excluding statistics): AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

Riga International Airport (IATA: RIXICAO: EVRA) was built in 1973 as an alternative to Spilve Airport, which had become outdated. It is in Mārupe municipality,[2] 5.4 NM (10.0 km; 6.2 mi) west[1] of Riga, the capital of Latvia. It is the largest airport in the Baltic states and is directly connected to over 80 destinations in 30 countries. Renovation and modernization of the airport was completed in 2001, coinciding with the 800th anniversary of the founding of the city. The airport is a state-owned joint-stock company, with the owner of all shares being the government of Latvia. The holder of the state capital share is Latvia's Ministry of Transport. Riga International Airport is a hub for airBaltic, SmartLynx Airlines, RAF-Avia, Vip Avia and Inversija airlines.

In 2006, the new north terminal extension was opened. The airport has three terminals: A & C for non-Schengen, and B for Schengen departures. Arrivals 1, in terminal A, handles the Schengen arrivals, while Arrivals 2, in terminal C, handles the non-Schengen arrivals. [3] Also, a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility was opened in the autumn of 2006, to be run as a joint venture between two local companies - Concors and SR-Technik.

The Latvian government also plans to build another terminal capable of handling 20 million passengers a year. The first part of this project began in 2008. The airport also plans to build new hotels, a business park, a second pier, new parking, a second runway, a new control tower, a new high-speed tram link or railway to the city centre, and a new check-in hall, all by 2011. The airport is currently soliciting bids for airport expansion that encompasses, as the first stage, a construction of a new (fourth) terminal with 23 gates facing north, and in the second stage, seamlessly joining the current airport terminals with the new terminal in a unified architectural entity. [4]

As the Latvian government may be backing out of the state financed plan to build the 20 million passenger capable terminal, airBaltic is now in the planning stage to, by 2014, build a second terminal, capable of servicing 40 planes and 5000 passengers per hour, that is equivalent to approximately 7.5 million passengers per year, for its own exclusive use, located right next to the current terminal, while leaving the current terminal (planned capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year, but easily capable of handling twice more at good service levels) for all other airlines to use. There will be also an additional entry/exit built to/from the runway, in order to minimize delays and maximize the airport capacity, as it is expected to hit over 10 million/year passengers combined handling by 2014. [5] The airport has ILS CAT I.

The magazine GatewayRiga is available for visitors and passengers travelling through Riga airport. It has information on new airlines serving Riga, new destinations and routes, and other information about the airport itself and surrounding facilities. It is published three times per year by SIA Check-In Media.

Contents

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Airlines and destinations

Scheduled airlines

The following airlines have scheduled services to Riga International Airport (as of November 2011):

Airlines↓ Destinations
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
airBaltic Ålesund, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bergen, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Helsinki, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kaliningrad, Kaunas, Kiev-Boryspil, Lappeenranta, London-Gatwick, Milan-Linate, Minsk, Moscow-Domodedovo, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Munich, Oslo-Gardermoen, Oulu, Palanga, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Rovaniemi [ends 24 March 2012], Saint Petersburg, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tallinn, Tampere, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Turku, Umeå, Vaasa, Vilnius, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich
Seasonal: Budapest, Chişinău, Dubai, Nice, Odessa, Simferopol, Venice
Belavia Minsk
Czech Airlines Prague
Estonian Air Tallinn [begins 25 March 2012]
Finnair operated by Flybe Nordic Helsinki
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Norwegian Air Shuttle Copenhagen [begins 4 May 2012], Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda [begins 19 April 2012], Trondheim
Ryanair Bergamo, Bremen [ends 10 January], Bristol [ends 9 January], Charleroi, Dublin, East Midlands, Glasgow-Prestwick, Hahn, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden [begins 27 March 2012], Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London-Stansted, Oslo-Rygge, Rome-Ciampino, Stockholm-Skavsta, Weeze
Skyways Express Gothenburg-Landvetter
Transaero Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
Seasonal: Antalya
UTair Aviation Moscow-Vnukovo
Uzbekistan Airways New York-JFK, Tashkent
Wizz Air Eindhoven, London-Luton, Oslo-Torp

Charter airlines

In addition, the following airlines also have seasonal charter operations as of December 2010:

Airlines↓ Destinations
airBaltic Summer: Antalya, Dalaman, Heraklion,
Winter: Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh
Bulgaria Air Summer: Burgas, Varna
Winter: Hurghada
Small Planet Airlines Vilnius [begins 18 May 2012][6]
SmartLynx Airlines Summer: Antalya, Heraklion, Monastir, Rijeka, Varna
Winter: Bergamo, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South

Cargo airlines

Other facilities

AirBaltic has its head office on the property of Riga Airport.[2]

Traffic statistics

Riga International Airport is one of three notable airports in Latvia. The other two are Liepāja International Airport and Ventspils Airport. Riga International Airport's biggest air carrier is airBaltic. In 2011, the airport served 5,106,893 passengers, a 9% increase over 2010.

Increase in passengers served at Riga International Airport (x 1000)
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
310 398 504 506 535 555 562 574 623 633 712 1 060 1 878 2 495 3 161 3 691 4 066 4 664 5 107
Busiest Routes from Riga (2010) [7]
Rank City Passengers
1 London, United Kingdom 377,784
2 Oslo, Norway 233,200
3 Helsinki, Finland 228,536
4 Stockholm, Sweden 223,872
5 Moscow, Russia 195,888
6 Frankfurt, Germany 181,896
7 Vilnius, Lithuania 158,576
8 Brussels, Belgium 153,912

Ground transport

See also

Latvia portal
Aviation portal

References

  1. ^ a b EAD Basic
  2. ^ a b "airBaltic in Riga." AirBaltic. Retrieved on 16 January 2010. "Air Baltic Corporation AS Registration number: 40003245752 ADMINISTRATION RIGA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Marupes county, LV-1053, Latvia"
  3. ^ Riga Airport Plan
  4. ^ Riga Airport Expansion Construction Bid Solicitation
  5. ^ New Riga Airport Terminal Plan
  6. ^ Simonas Bartkus blog
  7. ^ Most popular destinations in 2010

External links