Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport welcomed passengers from Riga in Latvia this week, with the first flight on a new route operated by the airline Air Baltic.

The service will operate twice a week, using an Airbus A220-300 with capacity for 148 passengers, and so not only can the people of Latvia visit the Costa Blanca, those in Spain can also enjoy some of the delights of Riga, Latvia’s capital, set on the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the River Daugava.

The city is well known for wooden buildings and is considered a cultural centre thanks to the numerous museums and concert halls, as well as a range of shops and restaurants, and the busy Livu Square, with a wealth of bars and nightclubs.

The airline’s first flight arrived at the Alicante airport on Tuesday at 3:55 p.m. and left an hour later to return to Riga. Air Baltic will offer flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays until March 31 and from this moment, which coincides with the start of the summer season, it will change its operations to Mondays and Fridays until the end of October.

The headline, by the way, according to Google translate, is “Welcome to Alicante” in Latvian.