On 29 March, as the summer flight schedule sets in, RIGA International Airport will welcome its third new airline so far this year – the Romanian national carrier TAROM. The Romanian airline will operate four flights a week between Riga and Bucharest.
TAROM will fly between Riga and Bucharest four times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Departure time from Riga - 18:00 (arrival in Bucharest - 20:20), departure from Bucharest at 15:00 (arrival in Riga at 17:15). Duration of flight – two hours and fifteen minutes. The airline TAROM will perform flights on Boeing 737/700 aircrafts. Until this spring there has been no regular air traffic between Riga and Bucharest.
Krišjānis Peters, Chairman of the Board of RIGA International Airport, said: „A significant factor in arrival of new airlines at Riga Airport and opening of regular flights is the airport’s new tariff policy that is one of the most attractive and competitive among the airports of the European capital cities. This year, pursuing expansion of its flight network, RIGA International Airport will provide the opportunity to fly to almost 80 direct destinations reaching further out into the directions of Southern Europe and Asia. It will open new travel horizons for the people of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which is our domestic market, and boost the potential of our transfer passenger traffic, choosing Riga for transfers to Scandinavia, Southern Europe, Russia and the CIS countries.”
TAROM will become a member of the Sky Team Alliance in June 2010. "TAROM flights to Riga will operate on a schedule especially designed to ensure not only the best point-to-point travel solution on Bucharest-Riga route, but to offer our passengers good connexion flights to other routes operated by TAROM, via Bucharest" said Gabriela Bordea, TAROM Executive Vice-president Marketing & Sales.
TAROM’s home base is Henri Coanda Bucharest International Airport. The airline operates flights to 49 destinations in Europe, North Africa and Middle East. There are 26 aircraft in the carrier’s fleet: three Boeing 737-800, four Boeing 737-700, four Boeing 737-300, four Airbus A318-111, seven ATR42-500, two ATR72-500 and two Airbus 310-325.
Flights can be booked on TAROM’s website www.tarom.ro. Fares start from 124 EUR, all taxes included.
On 19 January 2010 the Belarusian national carrier Belavia commenced regular traffic from RIGA International Airport. On 28 March Wizz Air, the largest low-fare carrier in Central and Eastern Europe will open flights to Riga. Wizz Air will carry passengers from Riga to London (Luton), Turku and Oslo. TAROM will start regular traffic between Riga and Bucharest on 29 March.