In the first four months of 2026, 379 cases of GPS interference were recorded in the airspace of Latvia. This is slightly less than a year earlier, but the number of such incidents still significantly exceeds the figures before the war in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the year, 379 cases of GPS system interference have been registered in the airspace of Latvia. According to the State Joint Stock Company "Latvian Air Traffic" (LGS), this is 5% less than in the same period last year.
In April alone, 83 cases of satellite navigation interference were recorded. For comparison, in April 2025, there were 109 such incidents.
Despite the slight decrease, the scale of the problem remains significant. Throughout 2025, Latvia registered 1,276 GPS interferences. Just a few years ago, the situation looked quite different: in 2022, there were only 26 such cases, in 2023 — 342, and in 2024 — already 820.
Thus, the number of interferences has increased dozens of times over the years, although this year marks the first slight decrease.
LGS previously noted that the rise in the number of incidents coincided with the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The company believes that the interferences are most likely related to this.
It is important to note that this is not about disruptions in mobile navigation for drivers, but about interference with satellite signals used in aviation. Authorities emphasize that there is no threat to flight safety.
The Civil Aviation Agency explained that airplanes use several navigation systems simultaneously, so even with GPS interferences, flights continue safely for both transit flights and aircraft arriving in or departing from Latvia.
Each case of interference is analyzed and reported to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
In recent years, the problem of GPS interference has increasingly affected the Baltic states and other regions near NATO's eastern borders. Against the backdrop of rising tensions in the region, aviation services are forced to regularly adapt to new working conditions.
While specialists note a cautious improvement in statistics, the number of such incidents remains significantly higher than the levels considered normal before 2022.
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