RIGA - This week the Latvian airline airBaltic celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Vilnius – Riga and Tallinn – Riga services. Since 1996 airBaltic has carried almost 3 million passengers on both routes and they have become vital for connectivity into and out of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
Wolfgang Reuss, SVP of Network Management of airBaltic: “We started out in our home markets with mere 6 thousand passengers served in 1996, but now we have over 350 thousand of passengers annually on our intra-Baltic services offering convenient onward connections to 60 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the CIS. We are planning to develop in the Baltic region by offering more direct flights under our Horizon 2021 business plan, which aims at operating 11 direct routes out of Vilnius and Tallinn in the next five years. However, strong demand from both outbound and inbound travellers is a prerequisite for future growth in Estonia and Lithuania”.
airBaltic launched its Vilnius-Riga service on 29 January 1996 utilising a Saab 340 aircraft. airBaltic started in Lithuania with just 3653 passengers annually, and has now grown to 183 106 passengers served in 2015. The first flight on the Tallinn – Riga route was operated by Saab 340 on 30 January 1996. The route was used by 2928 passengers annually 20 years ago, while today 180 830 passengers boarded airBaltic aircraft that link Estonia with Riga and major European hubs.
As previously announced, airbaltic has improved flight frequencies to its existing services from Tallinn and Vilnius, and airBaltic will launch a new direct route between Vilnius and Tallinn on April 18, 2016 that will offer even more convenient travel from and between Tallinn and Vilnius, and beyond to destinations out of the Baltic region.
