This summer, in the first special flights between Riga and Liepaja, the planes carried an average of 70 passengers, or about half of the possible number, reports Lsm.lv. This summer, the flights are subject to special events in Liepaja – a stage of the World Rally Championship and one of the largest in the Baltics Summer Sound music festivals. To restore regular traffic, the mayor of Liepaja hopes to receive support from the state. Could this happen? What are the benefits of these special flights? Six flights there and six back. This number of flights between Riga and Liepaja this summer was provided by airBaltic, which interrupted communication between the two cities in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging in Latvia. The last flight set off in October of that year. Flights between Riga and Liepaja were resumed only this summer. True, these are special flights. From July 11 to July 22, you can fly to Liepaja on Thursdays and Sundays, and back on Fridays and Mondays. At this time, the stage of the World Rally Championship, or WRC, will begin in the capital, which will continue in Kurzeme, including Liepaja, where you can fly to in early August, when one of the largest music festivals in the Baltics, Summer Sound, is expected in the city. The plane departs from Riga after 11 pm, and from Liepaja before six in the morning. The flight fee is fixed – 39 euros. But until Wednesday next week, the airBaltic promotion offers even half the price for tickets. Entrepreneur Marcis Veits from Liepaja is planning to take advantage of the only domestic flight in Latvia. “I believe that the need for flights should be actualized, since the prices for flights are not as high as they might seem, since the time that you save on the road is immeasurable, not to mention the fuel and resources consumed by cars. Time, in my opinion , is also very profitable." The opportunity to fly to Liepaja is also attractive for the mother of children from the outskirts of Riga, who wished to remain anonymous. Although she thinks the price is appropriate, flight schedules keep her family from flying. “This is an absolutely inconvenient schedule, and for families with children it is completely unacceptable, because for travelers and tourists, and for anyone interested, and for business people who could be one of the clients who could travel between Riga and Liepaja, flying after 11 pm is very inconvenient. Maybe the return trip at 5 am may be convenient for business people, but for families with children and tourists, I think not, because we all want to get some sleep on vacation, don't we? ?" The flight times were chosen so that Liepaja residents could change planes at Riga Airport in the morning and go to some other destination, and return to Liepaja in the evening without staying overnight in Riga. airBaltic explained this to Latvian Radio. On four flights this summer, the planes carried an average of about 70 passengers, or only about half. The situation on upcoming flights is also similar, said airline representative Augusts Zilberts, saying that some passengers used connected flights, that is, they traveled from abroad and transferred in Riga. “Under ideal conditions, all seats on the plane should also be filled so that this is as cost-effective as possible, but it must be borne in mind that this concept of “pop-ups”, that is, specially organized flights, is a novelty, in its own way an experiment, and therefore this the indicator can be considered satisfactory,” Zilberts explained. In anticipation of upcoming events in Liepaja, passengers began to buy tickets faster. The increased activity may be due to price cuts that airBaltic is introducing to attract more passengers. Despite the fact that many people want to fly between the two cities more regularly, the company does not plan to resume regular flights, Zilberts said. “According to our calculations, taking into account the demand, although it exists, it is still not so sufficient, and with such flights filled, the Riga-Liepaja-Riga route in the current conditions, at least on a seasonal regularity, would not be profitable. We did not return after pandemic to such a regular route, because the airBaltic fleet also no longer has smaller aircraft of the same type as they were during the pandemic – they had an average capacity of just over 70 seats,” explained the airline’s representative. The mayor of Liepaja, Gunars Ansins from the Liepaja Party, looks forward to the restoration of regular air service, noting that air service with Riga is very important. “We have worked a lot with airBaltic and discussed these issues. Of course, this summer’s test may be short enough to clarify the economic return on airBaltic’s side, but at the same time we continue the dialogue about next year. It is important that the government Latvia would support this kind of program and project, as they do nearby at Palanga airport, where there is state support within the framework of de minimis for flights that exist, for example, to Amsterdam, and others,” Ansins said. However, the Ministry of Transport responded that the possibility of co-financing flights between Riga and Liepaja is not currently being considered, given the implementation of priority infrastructure projects. In addition to regular bus and train services between the two cities, it is very risky to offer air transportation, says transport expert and former industry minister Talis Linkaits, noting that the Liepaja municipality should look for funding for regular flights in its wallet. The city, however, must first evaluate which routes would be interesting and how often flights could be operated. When money is found in your budget, you need to organize procurement and look for carriers, Linkaits explained. “To purely try to squeeze government funding for domestic flights out of Latvia by administrative methods, I think that this will not be successful. Such attempts have already been made several times. We see that in the conditions of a pressing budgetary situation, when the country does not have enough funds to finance bus and rail transport , I think it will be impossible to find more motivation and funds to finance domestic flights. In the case of Tartu, this is the Tartu-Helsinki route, which Finnair operates once a day. Vilnius, for example, is doing the same thing, which purchases the Vilnius-London connection. also paying for it from my own funds,” Linkaits explained. Since this summer the special flights are subordinated to the World Rally Championship and the music festival, the flights should be viewed as part of the marketing of the events, said Eriks Lingeberzins, envoy of the European Association of Travel Agents and Operators and associate professor at the Turība Graduate School of Business. "Perhaps this is such a good example of how we, as Latvia, can position and show the capabilities that we have when hosting such so-called great events, because if you look from the point of view of such general tourism, hospitality and economic returns events, then large events are increasingly becoming a used technique to attract attention and create an image of a country or place, or some specific end goal. Therefore, this is rather a case where not everything can be measured in such a direct economic return,” said Lingeberzins. . But since the planes were only half full on the first flights, this shows that demand is still not so great that regular service could be restored, Lingeberzins concluded. This year, commercial flights from two carriers began running between Riga and Liepaja in parallel with state-subsidized bus services. But for almost a year now there has been a train going to Liepaja and back every day, and two on Sundays. In the first half of this year, more than 40 thousand passengers were transported; many on the electrified Riga-Jelgava section even had to stand on their feet. This was stated in the Pasažieru vilciens company, where they admitted that it was impossible to increase the number of flights between Riga and Liepaja. True, perhaps there is a solution – enterprises have begun to assemble a train of six cars from Estonia, said enterprise representative Edgars Butans. “This new six-car train could be available either at the end of this year or at the beginning of next. When we have this train at our disposal, then we will make a decision on which non-electrified lines to run this train on. One possibility would be launch accordingly on the Riga-Liepaja route. At the same time, there is demand for passenger transportation not only on the Riga-Liepaja route. In addition, people would like to see additional diesel trains to Daugavpils and Valga.” Boutans said that about 470 passengers will be able to sit on the six-car train. This is at least twice as much as in the current diesel train Riga-Liepaja.
