Thanks to a joint effort with the Latvian Foreign Ministry, the opening of airbaltic flights to Baku and Tbilisi almost precisely coincided with the opening of Latvian Embassies in both countries as well as the opening of the Embassies of Azerbaidjan and Georgia in Riga. The support of Embassies and their staff is of course crucial to the success of flights to countries which require visas, we therefore highly appreciate the support of the Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks and his staff.

During the State visit of the Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, preparations for a flight to Tel Aviv has been initiated and I am pleased to say, that on June 5, 2006, we will be able to open a flight to Israel. We will operate two flights a week with a Boeing 737. Tel Aviv will be our longest scheduled flight, with a flight time of over 4 hours. There are no direct flights to Tel Aviv from Scandinavia, Finland or the other Baltic States, and we are therefore pleased that we will be able to offer good connections to these countries. Israel and Jerusalem are a fascinating destination to visit. However, because of the length of the flight, the prices will be somewhat higher than on other routes.

AirBaltic wants to connect Riga and Vilnius to all the important cities in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltics. It has therefore been our long-term ambition to start flights to Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad is one of the important business centres in the Baltic Sea region with considerable development potential We will start flying from July 2, 2006 four times a week in co–operation with the Russian airline Pulkovo. We already code–share our flight from Riga to St. Petersburg with Pulkovo Airlines. I am convinced that Kaliningrad will be an attractive destination both for business travellers and for tourism.

Enjoy your flight!

Bertolt Flick
President &CEO