At the same time, demand for tickets to airBaltic’s other Ukrainian destination, the capital city of Kiev, has proved so strong that the airline has made the decision to increase the number of flights to Kiev as well. Bertolt Flick, president of airBaltic, says “We are very pleased with the large increase in passenger numbers. Demand on our Ukrainian routes has exceeded our most optimistic forecasts, and so we increased the number of flights to Odessa at the end of August, while on 7th September we also increased the number of flights to Kiev.”

airBaltic passengers wishing to fly to Odessa can now travel there on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. As of September 7th, airBaltic will also operate a Wednesday flight to Kiev. This will make it possible to fly from Riga to Kiev any day of the week except Saturday. Ukraine has been operating a visa-free policy for EU passport holders since May this year, greatly facilitating entry and exit requirements. The initial legislation allowed this regime to last until 1st September, but it has now been prolonged indefinitely.

airBaltic operates its flights to Odessa with Fokker-50 aircraft, with a travel time of approximately three hours. Flights to Kiev are served by Boeing 737-500 aircraft, and flight time is one and a half hours. Flights to Odessa booked through agencies and ticket offices begin at LVL 65 (one way, including airport fees), while flights booked online start at LVL 49. Round-trip flights to Kiev start at LVL 160 (including airport fees), while flights booked online start at LVL 156.