Tag Archives: Latvia

British Airways’ first flight to Latvia touches down at Riga Airport

British Airways’ first flight in more than 15 years, from London Heathrow to Latvia touched down at Riga International Airport (RIX) on October 29 at 19.05 local time.

The inaugural service received a warm local welcome as it taxied to stand, with traditional drummers greeting customers as they stepped off the aircraft.

This winter, British Airways will operate three times a week between its home at Heathrow (Terminal 5) and the Latvian capital, with flights departing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Flights are operated by a mix of A320 and A321 aircraft, with return fares available from 85 EUR/ 73 GPB or 1 EUR + 23,500 Avios, British Airways’ loyalty club currency. On board the 2 hours 50-minute flight, customers can enjoy the airline’s quintessentially British product and service, and Executive Club members can earn and redeem miles on their flights.

The airline previously operated flights to Riga from 1997 to 2007.

British Airways to begin Riga service

British Airways on October 29, 2023 will start thrise-weekly service from the London (Heathrow) to Riga, Latvia.

The carrier will also start London (Heathrow) – Belgrade flights on October 31, 2023.

airBaltic introduces a new Latvia flag livery on YL-CSL

On November 9, 2018, in a special event with its partners and employees at the Riga International Airport, airBaltic presented a gift to Latvia on its centenary – a special livery of Airbus A220-300 aircraft.

From now on, airBaltic’s Airbus A220-300 (CS300 – BD-500-1A11) registered as YL-CSL will carry the flag of Latvia and the name of its capital – Riga.

All images by airBaltic.

Route Map:

Wizz Air to open a new base in Riga, Latvia

Wizz Air (Hungary) (Budapest) has announced the opening of its 17th base in Riga, Latvia. Wizz Air is initially deploying one Airbus A320 aircraft and opening 4 new routes from Riga to Barcelona, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dortmund and Beauvais (near Paris).

Wizz Air is not only adding new flights from Riga, but also increasing the frequencies on the existing services to London (Luton) and Torp (near Oslo). Wizz Air is now offering 8 routes to 6 different countries from the Latvian capital. The airline believes its expansion in Riga can stimulate the local job market in aviation and the tourism sector with more visitors now able to travel to Latvia on its low fare services.

Wizz Air on May 19, 2014 celebrated its 10 year anniversary of its first flight from Katowice in southern Poland to London (Luton) on May 19, 2004. The low fare airline now operates a fleet of 52 Airbus A320 aircraft on 300 routes from 18 bases, connecting 96 destinations across 35 countries. It transported over 13.9 million passengers in the financial year ending on March 31, 2014.

In addition, Wizz Air on October 26, 2014 is expanding service from Bucharest, Romania with the launch of two weekly flights to Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg and Nuremberg.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 HA-LPK (msn 3143) lands at EuroAirport serving the Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg area.

Wizz Air (Hungary):

Routes from Rigia, Latvia:

AirBaltic returns to the black with a net profit of $1.39 million for 2013

AirBaltic (stylized as airBaltic) (Riga) has also returned to the black. The Latvia carrier achieved a net profit of 1 million euro ($1.39 million) for the full year of 2013. AirBaltic has surpassed its original plans and has turned around the FY 2012 loss of EUR -27 million, converting it into a net profit of 1 million euro for 2013. AirBaltic has achieved profitability one year ahead of the initial schedule.

AirBaltic achieved 5% better yields and 1% of unit revenue improvements over the twelve months of 2013 (RASK – revenue per available seat kilometer), when compared to the same period a year ago, and generated stable revenues of EUR 325 million, despite capacity reductions.

AirBaltic serves sixty destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia.

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. The Boeing 737s will be phased out and replaced reportedly by 2017 by the new Bombardier CS300s assuming the latter can unravel its testing and production issues. Boeing 737-522 YL-BBN (msn 26683) in the special “Official Carrier of Latvia Team for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics” taxies at Zurich.

airBaltic:

airBaltic to launch a new route from Riga to Bucharest, Romania on June 3

airBaltic (Riga) on June 3, 2014, will launch a new route between Riga, Latvia and the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

airBaltic will fly from Riga to Bucharest four times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Passengers will board a Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) NextGen aircraft for a flight that will last for 2 hours 55 minutes.

Top Copyright Photo: Tony Storck/AirlinersGallery.com. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) YL-BAX (msn 4324) departs from Berlin (Tegel).

airBaltic:

Bottom Copyright Photo: airBaltic.