The Latvian air traffic controller Latvijas Gaisa Satiksme (LGS), which manages air traffic in Latvia, has told the LETA news agency that last year Latvia’s controlled airspace was used most often by the Latvian national airline airBaltic, the Finnish national airline Finnair, the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, and the Chinese airline Air China.
LGS told the agency that 14% of all flights in Latvian airspace last year involved airBaltic, 12% — Finnair and 7% each Ryanair and Air China.
Air India accounted for 6% of flights in Latvian airspace, followed by the Russian national airline Aeroflot on 4%. Turkish Airlines, Hainan Airlines from China, and the Russian airlines Rossiya Airlines and Pobeda each accounted for 3%.
These ten airlines accounted for 62% of LGS revenues last year.
The agency’s board chairman, Davids Taurins, explained that Latvia’s controlled airspace is not the same as the country’s land borders. Russian airlines fly over neutral waters, not over Latvian territory, which means that they are considered to be domestic flights from, for instance, St Petersburg or Moscow to Konigsberg, which means crossing the Baltic Sea.
Taurins added that LGS provides air navigation services in the Riga flight information region, which includes airspace not only in Latvia, but also airspace over neutral waters.
Source: BNS
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