airBaltic to launch Manchester to Riga flights

On March 29, Latvian national airline airBaltic will launch flights between Manchester and Riga for passengers travelling via the Latvian capital to/from Scandinavia, CIS countries, and the Baltic region.

Tero Taskila, Chief Commercial Officer of airBaltic said: “After a profitable year in 2009 and with a positive outlook for 2010, airBaltic continues to strengthen its transit product via Riga by offering another destination in the UK. This is already the 7th destination we will open this year from Riga to complement our network of routes serving Western Europe, Scandinavia, CIS and Middle East.”

Flights to Manchester will be offered three times weekly – on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from Manchester to Riga). Passengers will board a Boeing 737 aircraft for a flight that will last for two hours and 55 minutes, with one-way ticket prices starting at LVL 43 (EUR 61), including airport fees and transaction charges.

A full schedule of airBaltic flights can be found on the company’s homepage at airbaltic.com.

For 2009 airBaltic has announced 20 million EUR preliminary profit, and achieved 6% passenger growth to 2.75 million passengers. In 2010, airBaltic will open at least nine new direct routes from Riga, and has so far announced new destinations including Madrid, Belgrade, Vaasa, Umea, Beirut, Amman, and Manchester. The number of direct routes from Vilnius, announced by airBaltic over the past month, already total 10 – London, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Hamburg, Manchester, Dublin, and Oslo.