The number of airline passengers in Latvia increased by over 10 percent, while the average number of passengers in the EU declined by more than 6 percent in 2009.

Tero Taskila, airBaltic´s commercial director says: "Robust strategy and focused handling of airBaltic made Latvia become the only EU Member State with a growing aviation industry. We clearly see that our business model and practice are now copied by traditional airlines, a trend that will continue to approach our development pace."

With flights to over 80 destinations in Europe, Scandinavia, Middle East, CIS and Central Asia, Riga obtain Northern Europe's fastest growing airport which makes Latvia the fastest growing EU member state in the aviation industry despite the deep economic crisis.

The case of airBaltic is unique since the passenger growth took place in the middle of a collapsing local economy with a GDP decline of around 18 percent per quarter during 2009, however, airbaltic´s number of passengers increased by 30 percent at the base in Riga.

airBaltic has been selected to anna.aero ANNIS Award as Europe's largest airlines on new routes. In Europe, the CIS countries and Middle East, airBaltic has 27 more lines during the summer season in 2010 compared to 2009.


                                                                                       Cecilia Helland