AirBaltic Plans 18 New Routes For Summer 2023

Credit: Rob Finlayson

Latvian flag carrier airBaltic plans to introduce 18 new routes during the northern summer 2023 season, including 10 from its main base in Riga (RIX).

A further four routes are being opened from Tallinn (TLL) in Estonia and four from Vilnius (VNO) in Lithuania. President and CEO Martin Gauss described the additions as the “largest number of new routes in a single season we have ever seen at airBaltic.”

“We continue to be committed to our home cities in the Baltics and improving connectivity to and from the region,” he added.

Among the services being launched include Riga-Belgrade (BEG), which marks the airline’s return to Serbia’s capital for the first time in 12 years.

Other destinations being restored include Bucharest (OTP) in Romania, last served in September 2015; Baku (GYD) in Azerbaijan, last served in October 2019; and Burgas (BOJ) in Bulgaria, last served in September 2016.

Previous Routes Europe hosts Hannover (HAJ) in Germany and Bilbao (BIO) in Spain have also secured new service from Riga, with flights to start in April and May respectively.

In addition, airBaltic is returning to the Turkish city Istanbul after a hiatus of a decade. The carrier last served the now-closed Istanbul Ataturk until March 2013 and will resume flights to the city in April 2023 with a 4X-weekly Riga-Istanbul (IST) operation.

Earlier this month, airBaltic reported that Malaga, Barcelona (BCN) and Lisbon (LIS) were the most popular destinations in summer 2022, with scheduled service from Riga to each of the cities set to continue operating during the winter 2022/23 season.

New routes planned for winter include flights from Riga to Marrakesh (RAK) in Morocco from Oct. 31 and Gran Canaria (LPA) in Spain's Canary Islands from Nov. 1. A Tampere (TMP-Amsterdam (AMS) route will also begin on Oct. 31.

David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.