Air Baltic launched Belgrade-Riga flights

Latvian air transportation company Air Baltic launched the flights between Belgrade and Riga today (May 5, 2010).

Gregori Pomerancev, the Vice-President of Sales at Air Baltic, said at the press conference at Belgrade's airport Nikola Tesla that the company would be flying from Belgrade to Riga three times a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, while another weekly flight will be introduced as of May 31st - on Fridays.

According to his words, the price of one-way ticket starts from EUR 55, with all taxes included, while the flights, for which Boeing 737-500 will be used, last for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Pomerancev said that Serbia was a big market and that the interest in tourist travels was huge. He also pointed out that Air Baltic offered large number of flights to Scandinavian countries, Russia and former countries of the Soviet Union and that it would be operating flights to 80 destinations during the forthcoming summer season.

Therefore he expects the passengers from Serbia to use Air Baltic to travel to Scandinavian and Baltic countries.

CEO of Airport Nikola Tesla, Velimir Radosavljević, said that the arrival of new airline in Serbia would enable the people in our country to travel to Baltic countries.

He also said that the Belgrade airport was in contact with large number of airlines and expressed expectation that new flights would be launched and that the occupancy on existing flights would be increased.

According to the data on the company's website, Air Baltic flew 2.8m passengers in 2009, 6% more than in 2008. It is also stated that Air Baltic was the only European company majority owned by the state to make profit in 2009.

The fleet of the Latvian airline, 52.6% of which is in the possession of Latvia, comprises 31 airplanes.