purposeful, determined and competent than in the previous report period.
12 carriers including “Air Baltic”, “Aeroflot”, “Austrian Airlines”, “Belavia”, “British Airways”, “ČSA”, “Estonian Air”, “Finnair”, “Latpass Airlines”, “LOT”, “Lufthansa” and “Trygg-Flyg” provided scheduled passenger flights from “Riga” airport in 2002.
Scheduled direct flights linked Riga with 16 European cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Jonkoping, Kiev, Copenhagen, London, Moscow, Minsk, Prague, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Vilnius and Vienna.
Month 2000 2001 2002 2002/2001(%)
1 302 346 502 45.1
2 323 371 473 27.5
3 400 449 559 24.5
4 346 421 561 33.3
5 359 485 379 -21.9
6 350 446 428 -4.0
7 346 429 354 -17.5
8 424 438 403 -8.0
9 430 395 546 38.2
10 507 451 685 51.9
11 386 529 573 8.3
12 485 449 1 117 148.8
Total 4 658 5 209 6 580 26.3
Table 2. Cargo transportation (t)
Major passenger flows and routes of scheduled flights.
In 2002 the flight map changed slightly with “Air Baltic” exploring new destinations and starting flights to Berlin in May and later to Vienna. Additionally, “Air Baltic” resumed flights to Moscow, Warsaw and Prague, which had been suspended as unprofitable the previous years. Thus, the Latvian aviation market was considerably divided. “Air Baltic” improved its position, but “Austrian Airlines” discontinued flights from Vienna to Riga due to the imposed flight reduction. In comparison with the last year, the dynamics of passenger growth for the above destinations dropped considerably by 885 on the Warsaw route, 22.8% on the Vienna route and 17.3% on the Moscow route.
Month 2000 2001 2002 2002/2001(%)
1 35 235 38 681 38 377 -0.8
2 35 637 38 243 37 477 -2.0
3 45 454 46 510 45 393 -2.4
4 45 087 48 154 48 420 0.6
5 54 308 57 248 55 802 -2.5
6 56 017 68 036 63 980 -6.0
7 53 123 61 247 62 114 1.4
8 56 140 67 041 62 485 -6.8
9 55 810 60 879 63 294 4.0
10 51 645 51 872 61 270 18.1
11 44 804 43 924 49 357 12.4
12 41 096 40 812 45 353 11.1
Total 574 356 622 647 633 322 1.7
Table 3. Passenger movements
In 2002 73 passengers out of every 100 handled in Riga (including transit) travelled to or from Western Europe. Altogether scheduled flights to Western Europe were responsible for the growth of passengers figures (almost 11 000). Berlin, with the highest passengers growth rate ranks first among the cities of Western Europe (it should be mentioned, however, that in 2001 there were no scheduled flights on this route); followed by London with 6.9% and Frankfurt with 6.4%. However, there is an exception. For the first time passengers figures on the Helsinki route have dropped by almost 3 000 or 3.9% in comparison with the last year. Nevertheless, Helsinki ranks 2 nd on the list of the most popular destinations. For the second successive year passenger figures on the Stockholm route have dropped sharply by almost 14 000 or 21%. Accordingly, a Stockholm rank 6th instead of the previous 3rd, but the Copenhagen has constantly been number one since 1996, despite a passenger growth rate, which has slowed down on the route.
In 2002 passenger figures for Eastern and Central Europe have grown slightly. Some destinations have faced radical changes. As in previous years, passengers figures decreased by 17.3% on the Moscow route. For the second year after resuming scheduled flights on the Tallinn route passenger figures went down by 11.4%. Passengers figures on the Prague route increased significantly by 27.7% for the second year. It should be underlined that the Prague route has the highest absolute growth rate, i.e. by 13 000 passengers more and even surpasses the Copenhagen route. Accordingly, Prague shows a very convincing growth and ranks 3rd instead of being 6th in 2001 on the list of the most popular destinations. The success allowed “ČSA” to pull ahead of such major airlines as “British Airways”, “Lufthansa” and “Finnair”. A couple of years ago such a forecast would have seemed unbelievable. “ČSA” passengers figures have almost tripled compared with 1999 and almost doubled compared with 2000.
Only three of the carriers providing scheduled flights to Riga during the report year have carried fewer passengers than in 2001, i.e. “Aeroflot” with 29.6%, “Finnair” with 16.3% and “LOT” with 2.7%. These airlines have reduced flight frequency by 35.8%, 2.4% and 1.7% respectively. “Air Baltic” has carried the majority of passengers to and from Riga, i.e. 43% of the total number of passengers. “ČSA” with 10% of passengers handled at “Riga” airport ranks 2nd. As in 2001, “British Airways” with 9% ranks 3rd, “Lufthansa” with 8% ranks 4th, “Finnair” with 8% is 5th, but “Latcharter” with 7% is 6th.
City 2000 2001 2002 2002/2001(%)
Copenhagen 137 895 152 109 152 109 3.0
Helsinki 65 670 71 712 71 712 -3.9
Prague 34 741 50 084 50 084 27.7
Frankfurt 51 669 54 715 54 715 6.4
London 50 115 53 274 53 274 6.9
Stockholm 71 145 65 094 65 094 -21.0
Moscow 44 194 41 810 41 810 -17.3
Warsaw 10 349 19 687 19 687 1.7
Vienna 20 404 20 567 20 567 -22.8
Kiev 11 087 11 231 11 231 8.2
Tallinn 14 066 11 086 11 086 -11.4
Mugla 2 778 3 186 3 186 2.3x
Berlin 391 391 18.0x
Vilnius 9 821 6 680 6 680 -3.1
Barcelona 3 514 2 497 2 497 1.6x
Heraklion 2 232 1 115 1 115 -3.1
Others 36 374 57 409 56 294
Total 574 356 622 647 622 647 1.7
Table 4. Passenger movements per city
Air cargo
In 2002 the handled cargo volume has increased by more than 1 300 tons when compared to the previous year. Riga International Airport has never faced such an important increase in cargo volume before.
Of all the carries providing scheduled flights, “ČSA” achieved the highest growth of both cargo volume and passengers figures; while “Aeroflot” had the highest rate of cargo volume. Contrary to passenger figures, cargo volume dropped by 20.9% for “British Airways” and by 10.5% for “Lufthansa” for the second year. Cargo volume also slightly decreased also for “Finnair”. Nevertheless, “Finnair” is the major air cargo carrier in Riga with 20% of the total cargo volume handled at the airport ((25% in 2001); followed by “Air Baltic” with 16% (21% in 2001); “SAS” with 15% (18% in 2002); “ČSA” with 7% (6% in 2001); “Aeroflot” with 6% (5% in 2001); “Lufthansa” with 5% (7% in 2001); and “British Airways” with 2% in 2001).
Airline 2000 2001 2002 2002/2001(%)
Finnair 934 1 323 1 308 -1.1
Air Baltic 1 041 1 099 1 045 -4.9
SAS 845 952 971 2.0
ČSA 249 305 429 40.7
Aeroflot 209 277 394 42.2
Lufthansa 453 389 348 -10.5
British Airways 304 191 151 -20.9
Concors 137 145 5.6
Air Polonia 7 117 16.7x
LOT 112 112 115 2.7
Austrian Airlines 36 36 23 -36.0
White Eagle Aviation 190 101
Others 210 280 1 534
Total 4 658 5 209 6 580 26.3
Table 5. Cargo transportation (t)
Modernization and extension of the airport
During the report year attention was paid to the reinforcement and technical upgrading of aviation security measures. “Riga” Airport investment in aviation security has always been balanced. In view of the 11th September terrorist attacks the airport carried out unscheduled activities to reinforce security, transferring a major part of the investment initially planned for infrastructure development to security.
In the middle of 2002 cargo X-ray equipment was obtained and installed. Latvia is a member of European Aviation Conference (ECAC), which set 1 January 2003 the deadline for the introduction of the 100% screening of checked baggage at international airports. If this requirement had not been met, the aircraft departing from Riga would have faced long handling delays at other European airports; while all the baggage arriving from “Riga” airport would have been subject to time-consuming security controls. At the end of 2002 “Riga” airport launched automatic baggage screening equipment- which is a part of the common baggage security control system- to provide maximum safety and convenience for passengers. The producer of the equipment is the well-known company ‘Heimann”. The system facilitates three-level baggage control. The automatic baggage screening equipment has the capacity to process 1 200 baggage units per hour. Accordingly, two systems facilitate security control of 2 400 baggage units per hour. The installed equipment ensures security control fully compliant with the EU requirements in the field of aviation security. In addition to baggage control equipment, a computer room was arranged and 47 airport employees were trained. Altogether, security equipment and the reconstruction of baggage conveyors cost the airport 1.6 million EUR.
To reinforce security in the major areas and facilities at the airport, the aircraft handling area and the technical area of the airfield was fenced off and a checkpoint was arranged.
During the