European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

The Republic of Latvia today became EUROCONTROL’s 39th Member State.

Latvia has been a member of the international aviation community since 1992 when it joined the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and subsequently the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) in April 1993.

Latvia submitted its application for membership to EUROCONTROL on 4 September 2008. Its application was unanimously accepted by the Permanent Commission, the Organisation’s policy-making body, in December 2010.

Riga International is the dominant airport in Latvia with around 95 departures per day. After declining by 8.4% in 2009, the total traffic in Latvia has grown by 4%. Overflights saw no growth, but international arrivals and departures increased by 14%. Latvia has around 650 flights a day in the summer and 550 in the winter and air traffic is forecasted to grow by 5.5% in 2010 and 8.6% in 2011.

“Latvia joined the European Union in 2004 and today, becomes EUROCONTROL’s 39th Member State. We welcome the accession of Latvia to our Organisation which means that two of the three Baltic States are now represented in our Organisation. We hope to welcome the third Baltic State, Estonia in the not-too-distant future”, said David McMillan, Director General of EUROCONTROL.

For further information, please contact:
Kyla Evans/Catherine De Smedt, Tel: +32 2 729 50 95 Email:
press@eurocontrol.int For more information via the website: www.eurocontrol.int