Ryanair Closes Another Six Flights from Riga 0 13

Compared to the previous summer season, in the summer season of 2026, Ryanair will no longer operate flights from Riga to Vienna, Paris, Gdansk, Barcelona, Girona, and Gothenburg.

In a statement to the media, Ryanair claims that high and uncompetitive aviation taxes in Latvia, as well as rising air traffic management fees, hinder economic growth, the development of transport infrastructure, and tourism, forcing the company to redirect its capacity to faster-growing markets.

The airline emphasizes that cooperation with Riga Airport remains constructive, especially in terms of efficiency and airport fees. However, as Ryanair states, the inability of the Latvian government to reduce aviation taxes and the overall cost of flights means that Latvia is losing competitiveness to cheaper markets such as Slovakia, Hungary, Albania, and Poland, where governments actively support the development of aviation, tourism, and job creation.

Thus, Ryanair has decided to reduce Riga's capacity for the summer season of 2026 by 20% and redistribute these routes and aircraft to markets that will allow for cost reduction and growth.

Ryanair emphasizes that it wants to grow in Riga and open new routes, as well as base more aircraft and attract more tourists to Latvia, but urgent action is needed from the Latvian government to reduce aviation taxes and entry costs.

Meanwhile, representatives of Riga Airport informed the LETA agency that Riga Airport was informed in advance and that Ryanair also publicly announced plans to reduce operations at several airports, including Riga.

At the same time, when planning the summer schedule, Riga Airport took into account that Ryanair would not sell tickets and would not resume flights on several routes this summer season. The airport notes that these changes will not significantly affect the transport accessibility of Riga Airport, as other carriers offer flights on several routes or the capacity of nearby major aviation hubs is increasing.

For example, the Latvian national airline airBaltic operates flights to Vienna up to ten times a week, and to Paris up to 11 times a week. Similarly, airBaltic flies to Barcelona up to five times a week, which also provides alternative connections to the Girona region. In turn, flights to Gothenburg this summer season will be operated by both airBaltic and Norwegian. In Poland, airBaltic will start flights to Warsaw, and LOT Polish Airlines is also increasing the frequency of flights to this destination.

The airport forecasts a 14% increase in the number of flights this summer season, driven by the return of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and the expansion of airBaltic's operations, low-cost carriers Norwegian, LOT, Finnair, Turkish Airlines, and others, both through the opening of new routes and increasing capacity on existing ones. According to forecasts, the number of available seats at Riga Airport will increase by 7% during the summer season.

In response to Ryanair's expressed desire to develop Riga in the future, the airport is open to constructive negotiations with the airline.

At the same time, the airport clarified that the expenses mentioned in Ryanair's statement are not related to Riga's airport fees but pertain to the air traffic management service fee charged by VAS "Latvijas gaisa satiksme," as well as the security oversight fee charged by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

LETA agency has already reported that Ryanair also reduced its flight schedule from Riga by 20% and canceled seven destinations last winter. At the same time, Ryanair reduced the number of flights to many other countries, including Estonia and Lithuania, citing high airport fees.

Ryanair was founded in 1984. According to information on the airline's website, its fleet consists of more than 640 aircraft and offers flights to 36 countries.

It was also reported that last year, Riga Airport served a total of 7.111 million passengers, which remained at the level of the previous year. This included 1.45 million transit passengers in 2025, which is 6% less than in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of direct passengers last year increased by 2%.