AirBaltic will build a new cargo hub at Riga Airport following the signing of a new land reservation agreement with Latvia’s Riga Airport.
The new Baltic Cargo Hub will measure 6,000m squared, making it the largest air cargo handling facility in the Baltics, and will have the capacity to handle more than 30,000 tonnes of cargo each year once it is built in early 2024.
The new cargo centre will be operated by the airline’s cargo handling subsidiary Baltijas Kravu centres SIA and comes about after airBaltic won a tender for the rent of land and the construction of a multimodal logistics centre, issued by Riga Airport in November 2020.
AirBaltic CEO Martin Gauss said: “For years airBaltic Cargo has provided essential mail and cargo shipments to and from Latvia, using the existing hangar. However, the hangar will be demolished to make room for the Rail Baltica track.”
Riga Airport board chairperson Laila Odiņa added: “I am pleased that we will be able to work with the national airline in the development of the airport’s air cargo centre RIX Cargo City. “The volume of belly cargo forms a significant part of cargo carriage at Riga Airport, and airBaltic is the largest carrier of this type of cargo. “The construction of a new cargo handling centre will help increase the volume of cargo handled at Riga Airport and will benefit both the airport and airBaltic.”
