newstodate.aero
Oct 13, 2009 (newstodate): Latvia's Riga Airport is emerging as the Baltic region's most successful air cargo hub in 2009.
While the Baltic economies have taken a deep impact from the global economic and financial crisis, Riga Airport has managed to increase its cargo volumes significantly through the year, while the region's two other airport, at Tallinn, Estonia, and Vilnius, Lithuania, have suffered deeply.
In the first nine months of this year, Riga Airport has seen its cargo volumes up by no less than 18 percent, y-o-y, to 6,480 tonnes of cargo and mail.
In the same period, Tallinn Airport has seen its volumes down by 56.7 tonnes, to 13,881 tonnes, while Vilnius Airport's volumes have decreased by 28.6 percent, to a total of 3,026 tonnes.
The problems at Estonia's Tallinn Airport are primarily due to the short-fall of ex-China exports to Russia via Tallinn, while Lithuania's Vilnius Airport has been severely hit by the bankruptcy and grounding of the national carrier flyLAL from the start of the year, and the marked decline of flights at the airport.
The success of Latvia's Riga Airport derives primarily from the successful expansion of the route network and frequencies by the national carrier airBaltic that has built up the airport as a transfer hub for the Baltic region.
The full picture is, however, partially blurred by different statistical approached in the three countries as to inclusion of trucked cargo alongside flow cargo volumes.
While the Baltic economies have taken a deep impact from the global economic and financial crisis, Riga Airport has managed to increase its cargo volumes significantly through the year, while the region's two other airport, at Tallinn, Estonia, and Vilnius, Lithuania, have suffered deeply.
In the first nine months of this year, Riga Airport has seen its cargo volumes up by no less than 18 percent, y-o-y, to 6,480 tonnes of cargo and mail.
In the same period, Tallinn Airport has seen its volumes down by 56.7 tonnes, to 13,881 tonnes, while Vilnius Airport's volumes have decreased by 28.6 percent, to a total of 3,026 tonnes.
The problems at Estonia's Tallinn Airport are primarily due to the short-fall of ex-China exports to Russia via Tallinn, while Lithuania's Vilnius Airport has been severely hit by the bankruptcy and grounding of the national carrier flyLAL from the start of the year, and the marked decline of flights at the airport.
The success of Latvia's Riga Airport derives primarily from the successful expansion of the route network and frequencies by the national carrier airBaltic that has built up the airport as a transfer hub for the Baltic region.
The full picture is, however, partially blurred by different statistical approached in the three countries as to inclusion of trucked cargo alongside flow cargo volumes.