AirBaltic helps their passengers to reach their planes

Livivng about 120 km from Riga airport I was very pleased to hear that airBaltic launches its new service – airBaltic Bus to the regional cities of the three Baltic States – Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Bus aims at improving the connectivity of regional cities and giving customers better access to the airBaltic flights.

airBaltic Bus is a free bus service offered to airBaltic passengers travelling to and/or from Riga International Airport. The bus service links the airport to the central bus stations in Valmiera, Jekabpils, Jelgava and Daugavpils in Latvia, Tartu in Estonia, Siauliai in Lithuania. Buses run according to a set schedule synchronised with airBaltic flight arrival and departure times, in order to offer convenient connections to airports in Europe, the Middle East and Russia/CIS. After booking their airBaltic flights, customers can then request the free bus service on the airBaltic website.
Deatailed information about the bus services here. https://www.airbaltic.com/en/bus

The trouble with Ryanair

Since the beginning of this year the Riga International Airport started to collect a security charge (formerly covered by the state)  from all passangers departing from Riga.  No charge applied for transit passangers and kids under age 2.  Normally, airlines would include this charge in their  flight ticket costs. There is even a tiny incentive to do so – if the airline includes the charge in their ticket price it is EUR 6.50, if it is paid at the airport it rises to EUR 7.00

Ryanair has refused to apply this charge. Therefore Ryanair’s passengers have to go through all the hassle of paying the security charge before their flights at the Riga airport. To passengers unaware in advance that this is necessary, it can feel like a rip-off.

Apart of that, the airline is cancelling 42 routes.

Riga airport’ s disasters with Ryanair do not finish there, however. Just a few days ago the Latvian Competition Council considered a complaintby AirBaltic and fined the airport LVL 50 000 for discriminatory pricing policies . The reason is Ryanair: Riga International Airport has applied more favourable charges to the Irish airline than to everone else.  

For example, national airline AirBaltic  has paid a remarkable 82% more for services at Riga airport than Ryanair.  The Competition Council has ordered the airport to equalise the service charges and make them public and understandable for all possible interested parties. This means that the airport will have to cancel Ryanair’s favourable contract and put the price up for them. Ryanair, of course, says it can easily send its planes elsewhere.  

It is a serious threat and Riga could lose thousands of tourists which benefit the wider economy. But on the other hand, if Ryanair’s powerful lobbying (you have to be impressed by their ability to negotiate such favourable deals) stopped other airlines operating their own Riga routes and meant Riga airport made practically nothing from Ryanair’s presence, then probably something had to change.

Perhaps one solution would be for Latvia to develop a regional airport for low cost airlines, as Lithuania has done succesfully with Kaunas.

There have been discussions about Liepaja airport in the past, and more recently speculation has centred on Tukums airport due to its proximity to Riga.

My personal opinion is that Daugavpils airport should be developed, despite all the problems related with its ownership and its distance from Riga. Geographically it could serve not only the Latvian market but also populations in Russia, Belarus and northern Lithuania. The economy of the Latgale region would thrive, though infrastructure including transport links would need to be developed in tandem with the airport. As one of the poorest regions in the European Union, Latgale could certainly do with such a boost.

Eva Staltmane

Everything’s going green

Green is the colour, airBaltic is the name...

As you arrive at Riga airport it’s impossible to miss: bright green.

What does it mean? Of course, it’s airBaltic’s corporate colour. Planes, hotels, taxis, buses, travel agencies, advertisements, loyalty and credit cards – all in vibrant, attention-catching green.

Rumour has it that there will soon be airBaltic rental bicycles to add to the list. Good idea! Cycling has only recently taken off in Latvia in a big way, and you only need to look at the groundbreaking velo schemes in cities such as Paris and Nice to see how attractive and practical bike rental can be if it well managed.

Booking through airBaltic you get discounts on many of their associated products. Is the customer really the winner? It’s hard to tell. airBaltic flight fares are not always the cheapest (as Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary recently went out of his way to point out), but with its inclusive hotel and car rental deals airBaltic does provide a high level of convenience and time saving.

Customer loyalty programme Baltic Miles is another new and well thought out product which gives wide choices on how to spend and earn points but it could be argued that some other products such as a complex travel warranty scheme or the rather strange SIM card deal which gives you free incoming calls (but you’ll need to make outgoing calls to tell everyone your Estonian phone number) are stretching the brand a little too far.

But it’s worth remembering that in Latvia the famous saying goes: “Where there are two Latvians there are three points of view.” The very fact that all these different businesses and products have managed to fit under one bright green umbrella is rather remarkable.

By Eva Staltmane