RIGA - The Transport Ministry announced last week that the airport was likely to cut fees beginning June or July, paving the way for increased competition at Riga International Airport.
Arnis Muiznieks, director of the ministry's aviation department, did not specify the planned cuts but said that the reduction would be substantial and would affect all airlines operating out of Riga's airport.
"Even a 5 percent - 10 percent cut can be substantial," said Muiznieks, adding that airport fees were growing throughout the world.
He said the revenue shortfall would be compensated by the airport's internal reserves and allocations to the aviation infrastructure by reducing costs.
Muiznieks stressed that lowering the fees would improve Riga International Airport's competitive ability and bring more passengers to the airport.
The airport's spokesman Andorijs Darzins said that at present the airport was charging 16 lats (24.3 euros) per departing passenger. He said that of this amount 7 lats are used for airport development and 9 lats are spent on security and security upgrades in light of the increasing terrorist threats across the globe.
Darzins said the airport fees had remained unchanged for the last seven or eight years.
The cut in fees come at a time when Deputy Prime Minster and acting Transport Minister Ainars Slesers is pushing for more competition at the airport and allowing low-cost airlines, including Ryanair, to enter Latvia. He wants to lower airport fees as a way of increasing passenger turnover.
In Slesers' opinion, a new development concept for the airport should be drafted, granting discounts to airlines for the amount of passengers carried.
Meanwhile, it was reported last week that airBaltic, the Latvian national airliner, had carried 128,676 passengers in the first four months of the year, a 50 percent growth year-on-year. In April alone the company carried 42,969 passengers, a 70 percent rise,
The company also made 4,087 flights, a 40 percent increase year-on-year, during the same period.
Muiznieks said that airBaltic had achieved substantial growth through "a radical and courageous change of policy, selling one-way tickets, seriously lowering prices and expanding the number of routes over a very short period of time."
