On 1 October 1995, a small Latvian carrier flew its first commercial route, Riga to Stockholm, using a 33-seat Saab 340 turboprop. Three decades on, airBaltic has marked its 31st birthday with a network of more than 70 destinations and over 70 million passengers carried since launch.
The early route map was modest but forward-thinking. Stockholm came first, then Helsinki, with London, Frankfurt and Copenhagen added within months — all five remain on the schedule today. Since then, cities like Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Barcelona and Munich have been linked to Riga for more than 20 years, giving the Baltics direct access to Europe's major hubs.
Those hub links matter beyond Europe. Through 25 codeshare partners, a single stop via Riga opens up more than 200 destinations worldwide — think New York, Tokyo or Chicago — without juggling separate bookings. Riga has effectively become a connecting point for Baltic and Scandinavian travellers heading deeper into Europe, cementing the Latvian capital's role as the region's gateway.
The airline hasn't concentrated everything in one city, either. Flights between Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius have run for three decades, and travellers from Estonia's and Lithuania's capitals now get their own direct routes plus up to five daily connections through Riga. That matters if you're planning a multi-country Baltic trip — you can string the three capitals together by air rather than long bus rides.
The growth curve is striking. airBaltic carried 5.2 million passengers in 2025, its busiest year ever, and has swapped the old Saabs for a fleet of 148-seat Airbus A220-300s. For holidaymakers, the practical upshot is simple: cheap, direct access between the Baltics and most of Western, Southern and Northern Europe, whether you're city-breaking in Riga's art nouveau old town, island-hopping to Tallinn, or using the region as a springboard across the continent.
