Direct air service between Budapest and Baltic capital to expand
Latvian carrier Air Baltic is set to increase its presence in Budapest next summer, offering more flights and introducing new routes across the Baltic region.
More flights between Riga and Budapest
Between June and the end of August 2026, the airline will operate its Riga–Budapest service four times a week instead of three, AIRportal.hu reported. Airbus A220-300 aircraft performing flights BT 491/492 will now serve the Hungarian capital on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays during the peak season.
The summer expansion is part of a broader network growth. Air Baltic plans to open ten new routes from the Baltic capitals: from Riga to Antalya, Göteborg, Kaunas, Oulu, and Warsaw; from Tallinn to Athens, Hamburg, and Vienna; and from Vilnius to Chisinau and Zurich. In addition, four routes will be resumed—Riga to Aberdeen, Belgrade, and Yerevan, and Tallinn to Oslo.
Increased frequency on dozens of routes
The airline will also increase frequency on more than 30 existing routes: 20 from Riga, four from Tallinn, and seven from Vilnius. This expansion will boost seat capacity across the region, with Riga seeing a 12% increase (over 400,000 additional seats), Tallinn an 11% rise (over 90,000 seats), and Lithuania—including Vilnius, Palanga, and Kaunas—a 21% increase (over 150,000 extra seats).
Air Baltic operates one of Europe’s youngest fleets, with 51 Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The airline carried 4.8 million passengers in the first eleven months of 2025, marking a 1.6% increase compared to the same period in 2024. From January to November, it operated 43,685 flights, a 2.5% rise year-on-year, maintaining a stable load factor of 80.5%. November alone saw 402,400 passengers—a record for the airline in that month—with 3,766 flights operated, up 4.9% from November 2024.
Better connections and greater flexibility
Mantas Vrubliauskas, Air Baltic’s Executive Vice President for Network Management, said: “Our 2026 summer expansion will provide better connections and greater flexibility for travellers on popular business and leisure routes, while strengthening Latvia’s and the Baltic states’ links with Europe and beyond.”
For Budapest, the increase in flights offers travellers more options to connect to the Baltic region and beyond.