Riga International Airport handled over 2.1 million passengers in the first five months of 2017, up 7.4% on the previous year. In May alone, the site saw a 10.8% increase on footfall compared to the same month last year.
During the first five months of the year, more than 600,000 passengers chose Riga Airport as an international air traffic hub to continue their journey to other destinations. Over this period, transfer and transit passenger figures increased by 17.4%, reaching 28.3% of the total number of passengers.
In May, 157,523 passengers chose Riga Airport as a transit point accounting for 29.8% of the total number of travelers. It is an increase of 17.7% in this group of passengers compared to last May.
Ilona Līce, chairperson of the board of Riga International Airport, said, “More than half a million passengers per month means that an average of 600 people cross airport security control each hour, which is 15,000-20,000 passengers a day. For this reason, the airport is working on solutions to speed up its customer service; for example, in the nearest future, security control lines will be extended so that passengers could prepare for the security screening more conveniently.
“At the same time, we are working intensively on the design of the new, spacious passenger terminal, the construction of which will start in 2019 and which is expected to be completed in five years at the same time as RailBaltic railway station.”
Riga International Airport is the largest air traffic hub in the Baltics. The 20 airlines operating at Riga Airport offer more than 60 destinations in the winter season and almost 90 in the summer.