Getting There By Air
Riga International Airport (RIX)
Tel: 722 3305. Fax: 721 1767.
Website: www.riga-airport.com
Riga International Airport (Lidosta Riga), located 13km (eight miles) southwest of the city, handles an increasing number of direct flights to cities all over Europe, handling 600,000 passengers in 2001. The majority of the routes are in Central and Eastern Europe. A major renovation programme recently has been completed and has brought the airport up to international standards. The terminal now has a capacity of one and a half million passengers per year. Further work, which is scheduled for completion in 2003, will see the expansion of the airport’s runway.
Major airlines: Air Baltic (tel: 720 7069; website: www.airbaltic.com) is the national airline, partnered with Scandinavian Airlines – SAS (tel: 720 7543; website: www.scandinavian.net). The joint Swedish–Latvian airline, Trans East Airlines (tel: 720 7771; website: www.junik.lv/~tea), is also registered in Latvia. Other major airlines include Aeroflot, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Czech Airlines, Estonian Air, Finnair, LOT (Polish Airlines), Lufthansa and Transaero.
Approximate flight times to Riga: From London is 2 hours 30 minutes; from New York is 9 hours 35 minutes; from Los Angeles is 12 hours 20 minutes; from Toronto is 10 hours 35 minutes and from Sydney is 24 hours.
Airport facilities: These include bureau de change, ATM, lost property bureau, post office, left-luggage, hotel reservations, tourist information, bar, café, duty-free shops, pharmacy, medical service and car hire from Avis, Budget and Hertz.
Business facilities: There is a business lounge with an international telephone and fax service, bar and international television programmes, for business-class ticket holders. VIP services are also available by arrangement (tel: 720 7132) and include welcome, express check-in and light refreshments.
Arrival/departure tax: None.
Transport to the city: Riga Taxi Park (tel: 720 7509) operates a 24-hour taxi service to the city centre. Taxis can be ordered at the counter in the arrivals hall or picked up outside, at the taxi stand. There is a Ls2 embarkation fee and the metre rate is Ls0.35 per kilometre. Visitors should expect to pay Ls7-10 for journeys to the Old Town (journey time – 15 minutes). Baggage is charged at Ls0.40. Public transport bus 22 departs from outside the terminal building for the city centre every 20-30 minutes (0545-2240) and costs Ls0.20. There are drop-off points at Riga’s central station and Strelnieku laukums (journey time – 30 minutes).
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