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City Guide - Riga - Air | ||
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Air Riga International Airport (RIX) Tel: 722 3305 or 720 7009. Fax: 721 1767. Web site: www.riga-airport.com Riga International Airport (Lidosta Riga), located 13km (eight miles) southwest of the city, handles direct flights to 18 countries and over 21 cities in Europe. The majority of the routes are in central and eastern Europe. A six-million-Dollar reconstruction programme is near completion. This will raise the terminal capacity to one and a half million passengers per year. Further work, which is scheduled for completion in 2003, will see the expansion of the airport's runway. Major airlines: Air Baltic (tel: 720 7069 or 7401 or 7543) is the national airline, whose partners are Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) (tel: 720 7543; web site: . The joint Swedish-Latvian airline Trans East Airlines (tel: 720 7771; web site: www.junik.lv/~tea) is also registered in Latvia. Other major airlines include: Aeroflot, British Airways, Czech Airlines, Estonian Air, Finnair, LOT (Polish Airlines), Lauda Air, Lufthansa and Transaero. Approximate flight times to Riga: From London is 2 hours 30 minutes; from New York is 9 hours 35 minutes; from Los Angeles is 12 hours 20 minutes; from Toronto is 10 hours 35 minutes and from Sydney is 24 hours. Airport facilities: These include bureau de change, ATM, lost property bureau, post office, left-luggage, hotel reservations, tourist information, bar, café, duty-free shops, pharmacy, medical service and car hire (Avis, Budget and Hertz). Business facilities: There is a business lounge for business-class ticket holders with an international telephone and fax service, bar and international television programmes. VIP services are also available by arrangement (tel: 720 7132) and include welcome, express check-in and light refreshments. Arrival/departure tax: There is no arrival tax and departure tax is included in the ticket price. Transport to the city: Riga Taxi Park (tel: 720 7509) operate taxis to the city centre (24 hours), which can be ordered at the counter in the arrival hall or picked up outside at the taxi stand. There is a Ls2 embarkation fee and the metre rate is Ls0.35 per kilometre. Expect to pay Ls7-10 for journeys to the Old Town (journey time - 15 minutes). Baggage is charged at Ls0.40. Bus number 22 leaves from outside the terminal building for the city centre every 20-30 minutes (0545-2240). There are drop-off points at Riga Central Station and Strelnieku laukums (journey time - 30 minutes; cost: Ls0.20). |