Riga Airport maintains stability in 2025 with 7.1 million passengers and growing cargo volumes

Riga Airport closed 2025 with stable operational performance, serving just over 7.1 million passengers, broadly in line with the previous year, despite ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Cargo activity was a notable bright spot, with handled volumes increasing by 7% year-on-year to 20,100 tonnes.

Of the total passenger traffic, 5.7 million travellers began their journeys in Riga, while around 1.4 million passengers—approximately 20%—used the airport as a transfer hub. London remained the most popular destination, followed by Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. Other key routes included Vilnius, Tallinn, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Istanbul.

National carrier airBaltic continued to dominate operations at Riga Airport, holding a 57.2% market share in 2025, while Ryanair ranked second with 22.8%. Despite sanctions and airspace restrictions limiting connectivity with Asia, the cargo segment expanded, supported by the entry of Fly Khiva and Lufthansa Cargo. Roughly half of cargo volumes were carried on passenger flights, with the remainder handled by dedicated freighters.

Riga Airport also advanced its sustainability and infrastructure agenda. In 2025, it became the first climate-neutral airport in the Baltics by offsetting all direct CO?e emissions and increased its accreditation level in international customer experience assessments. Total investments reached EUR 20 million, including the launch of the 80,000-square-metre Apron 4 reconstruction project, which will add wide-body aircraft stands and enhance cargo and military mobility capabilities.

Looking ahead, airport management forecasts moderate growth in 2026, broadly in line with Latvia’s GDP, while noting that a significant improvement in the geopolitical situation could unlock stronger expansion. Connectivity is set to improve with the return of SAS to Copenhagen, the continuation of flydubai’s Dubai service, and new airBaltic routes to Warsaw and Gothenburg, alongside capacity increases on existing services. Infrastructure expansion, sustainability initiatives and non-aviation revenue development through the RIX Airport City project will remain key priorities.