airBaltic launches direct flights between Riga and Abu Dhabi

Riga. The Latvian airline airBaltic in cooperation with the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Etihad Airways, yesterday, on October 29 launched a direct service between Riga and Abu Dhabi. The new route offers convenient connections to passengers travelling from the Baltics to the UAE capital and further to key destinations in Australia, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as well as new travelling opportunities from Abu Dhabi to Europe.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “We are delighted to launch the new Riga – Abu Dhabi route. Thanks to our cooperation with Etihad Airways we can now offer our customers brand new flying experience flying with the world’s most modern jet aircraft CS300 to the Middle East and beyond for affordable prices.”

Until now passengers have made over 9 000 bookings on the Riga – Abu Dhabi route and it is popular among travelers from Latvia and outside, as 30% of the bookings currently come from transfer passengers mostly from Scandinavia and the Baltics. Moreover, airBaltic has seen additional demand for the flight to the Formula Grand Prix, which will take place in Abu Dhabi in the last weekend of November.

airBaltic operates the Riga – Abu Dhabi route 4 times weekly. Passengers will board a Bombardier CS300 aircraft for a flight that will last 6 hours and 15 minutes. One-way ticket prices start at 129 EUR, including airport fees and transaction costs. A full schedule of airBaltic flights can be found on the company's homepage at www.airbaltic.com .

airBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these locations, airBaltic offers convenient connections via Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, CIS and the Middle East. In addition, airBaltic also offers direct flights from Tallinn and Vilnius.