Riga Airport marks 35 years of Lufthansa operations and international connectivity
| Company | Riga Airport |
|---|---|
| Date | 29.10.2026 |
Lufthansa has marked 35 years of operations at Riga Airport, having launched flights to the Latvian capital on 27 October 1991, shortly after the restoration of Latvia’s independence.
The airline has carried more than 3.4 million passengers through Riga Airport over the past 35 years, providing regular connections to Frankfurt Airport and onward access to Lufthansa Group’s international network.
Passenger numbers reached a peak of 213,000 in 2014. In 2025, Lufthansa carried 182,000 passengers between Riga and its Frankfurt hub, while more than 152,000 had travelled with the airline through Riga by mid-September 2026. Riga Airport forecasts that passenger numbers will reach at least the previous year’s total by the end of 2026.
Lufthansa currently accounts for approximately 26% of passenger traffic between Riga and Germany. The airline also has a significant presence in the business travel market, carrying around half of business-class passengers travelling between the two countries.
Despite operating just one route from Riga, to Frankfurt, Lufthansa accounts for approximately 2.5% of the airport’s total passenger traffic. Frankfurt provides connections to destinations across Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and other global markets.
Laila Odiņa, Chairperson of the Board of Riga Airport, said the route had played an important role in Latvia’s international connectivity and economic development, providing access to one of Europe’s major aviation hubs and enabling passengers to reach long-haul destinations with a single transfer.
Rhonen Azoulay, Lufthansa Group’s General Manager Sales for the Baltics, Czechia, Poland and Ukraine, said the connection had strengthened links between Latvia, Germany and the wider world over three and a half decades.
Lufthansa has maintained its presence at Riga Airport through successive periods of economic change, including the Covid-19 pandemic, making it one of the foreign airlines with the longest continuous operating histories at the airport.
