RIX plans to triple capacity

RIGA - By 2013 plans are for Riga International Airport’s passenger-handling capacity to be increased to 12.7 million travelers a year, reports Nozare.lv. As Transport Minister Kaspars Gerhards (For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK) said in an interview on Latvian State Radio, the airport’s administration discussed in December the optimal direction for future development. The plans call for an overhaul of the existing terminal, as well as to give to the Latvian national airline, airBaltic, the opportunity to build its own passenger terminal.

The capacity of the existing terminal is to be increased from its current 4 million passengers a year to 5.5 million passengers a year, with the airBaltic terminal to be built by 2013, predicted to serve 7.2 million passengers a year, said Gerhards. Last year Riga’s airport handled 4,066,793 passengers, a 10 percent increase over 2008.

Construction of the airBaltic terminal would cost around 90 million euros and would be carried out without the use of state resources, says Gerhards. He adds that “The important thing is to make a decision as quickly as possible, as it is planned to attract [European] Structural Fund support for things such as runway lighting and sliproad development.”

The government is currently reviewing the development plan for Riga airport, including the new airBaltic transit passenger terminal. AirBaltic President and Executive Director Bertolt Flick has previously said that the terminal project was ready to go, and that its construction is necessary in order to maintain the pace of the airport’s development. In order to start the project, it must first be accepted by the government.