newstodate.aero

Aug 29, 2022 (newstodate): The Latvian carrier airBaltic will feel further pressure on its home turf from low-cost carrier Norwegian in summer 2023.
   Norwegian is to establish a new crew base and allocate three aircraft at Riga Airport to bolster its operations in Latvia in close competition to airBaltic that has seen its transit potentials declining with the closure of the Russian and Belarus markets at a time when the revenues from business travelers is dipping, forcing the airline to focus instead on leisure traffic to tourist destinations to keep volumes up.
   Norwegian has been operating at Riga Airport since November 10, 2005, with the first flight to Oslo now operated with up to nine weekly flights, in addition to three to six weekly flights to Stockholm served since summer 2012, and two to four weekly flights to Copenhagen, served since May 4, 2012.
   Since November 2005, Norwegian has carried a total of 2.2 million passengers to and from Riga, operating more than 16,000 scheduled flights, and in 2021 the number of passengers served by Norwegian in Riga reached 48,600.  
   In a quest to reduce operational costs, Norwegian set up a new service center in Riga, Latvia to provide centralized world-wide customer service support, instead of relying on outsourcing of activities in individual markets.