Air Baltic to launch Chișinău-Riga flights in 2024
Air Baltic, one of Europe's largest low-cost airlines, will launch flights between Chișinău and Riga starting in 2024, Moldovan Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization Dumitru Alaiba announced on Tuesday.
Tickets will be available as early as this week, Alaiba said. Flights will operate twice a week.
"Air Baltic is one of the largest low-cost carriers in Europe. We are also in talks with others," the official said.
Previously, Alaiba said that representatives of Eurowings, a German low-cost carrier part of the Lufthansa Group, would be visiting Moldova this week.
On August 18, President Maia Sandu said at the 2023 Diaspora Congress that the lack of air routes to Chișinău is a priority for the authorities and that they are working hard to address the issue. Sandu said that the government's efforts have not yet produced enough results, but she is optimistic that the number of flights to and from Moldova will increase.
In early August, the administration of Chișinău International Airport announced that three new airlines had launched direct flights to Chișinău: Israir, Azerbaijan Airlines, and Southwind Airlines.
Due to the air travel crisis, particularly after Wizz Air closed its base in Chișinău, about 30% of Moldovans are opting to fly from Iași, Romania.
