Three planes that were scheduled to land at Riga Airport were diverted to other airports on Monday evening due to a drone on the plane’s landing trajectory, Aivis Vincevs, head of operational situations at the Civil Aviation Agency, told LETA.
A flight of the Latvian national airline airBaltic from Sofia and Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air from Kutaisi were rerouted from Riga Airport to Vilnius Airport, while a flight of the Finnish national airline Finnair returned back to Helsinki.
Aivis Vincevs confirmed that on Monday, the 13th of January, a drone was detected along the plane’s landing trajectory. In accordance with the safety procedure, the airport was locked down for 30 minutes to ensure a high security level.
Vincevs noted that departures were closed down as well, which delayed the flight of Turkey’s “Turkish Airlines” to Istanbul.
Latvian State Police representatives told LETA that information was received about an object that resembled a drone in the air space within the airport’s territory. Police then arrived at the scene to verify the information.
In 2023, Riga International Airport serviced a total of 6.631 million passengers, which is 23.2% more than a year ago, when 5.381 million passengers were served, but 15% less than in 2019, when the airport handled 7.798 million passengers.
Riga International Airport is the biggest aviation hub in Baltic States.