Riga International Airport in Latvia welcomed its 60 millionth passenger yesterday (April 19) since the restoration of the country’s independence in 1991.
Swedish scientist Curt Almquist was met with a red carpet and a guard of honor, as well as gifts in the form of a special design travel suitcase and RIX Club loyalty card. The national airline airBaltic also presented Almquist with a voucher for a flight in business class, while Riga’s partners TAV Airports and ATU Duty Free greeted the lucky passenger with gift baskets and a gift card.
Uldis Augulis, the Latvian minister for transport, said, “The aviation industry is among those sectors, which year by year make Latvia more visible on the world map. It plays a major role in economic development in today’s global economy. Since the restoration of the country’s independence, we have reached the threshold of 60 million passengers, which demonstrates that we have taken ambitious steps towards growth of the airport. Consequently, I can safely assure you that today we can single out and appreciate Riga as one of the success stories of Latvia to be proud of.”
Ilona Līce, chairperson of the board for Riga International Airport, said, “Every hour, Riga International Airport serves more than 600 passengers, an average of 18,000 passengers a day and almost half a million passengers a month. The airport is developing steadily and purposefully.”
Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic, said, “We will accelerate the passenger growth at Rīga Airport even further by adding 12 new routes this summer with 15% more tickets on sale. Our customers in Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East will mainly see this as more cheap tickets available for their travel to exciting new destinations for leisure and business.”