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