newstodate.aero

Jan 07, 2020 (newstodate): The Latvian carrier airBaltic is returning seasonal services to Yekaterinburg, in Russia, in the coming summer 2020 schedule.
   With the first flight on April 1, 2020, airBaltic will be offering two weekly rotations on the route between Riga and Yekaterinburg using Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
   Yekaterinburg will become the carrier's sixth Russian destination alongside Moscow served since 1998, St Petersburg served since December 15, 2004, Kaliningrad served from April 16, 2017, Sochi served from May 14, 2018, and Kazan served since April 26, 2017.
   airBaltic first planned to open flights between Riga and Yekaterinburg from June 3, 2014, but plans were aborted by the deepening crisis with Russia over Ukraine.
   Before the Ukrainian crisis, Russia was airBaltic's single largest market outside the Baltic region, and in 2019 passengers volumes on the Russian traffic again increased by 16 percent, y-o-y.
   In 2015, airBaltic carried 160,000 passengers on its route between Moscow and Riga, growing 31.3 percent to 210,000 passengers in 2016, and in 2017 the volume grew by another 9.5 percent to 230,000 passengers, with transit traffic driving the development.
   In 2018, Russia became the third most popular destination for passengers departing from Riga Airport, with passenger traffic from Riga to Russia rising 17.2 percent, y-o-y, to 747.500 on routes served by airBaltic, Aeroflot and UTair.