RIX-Spot1
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August 16, 2018Riga Skulte Int’l Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on November 29, 2023
Riga Skulte International Airport (RIX/EVRA) is Latvia’s busiest and biggest airport. It’s located ~8 km (south)west of Riga’s downtown, which was signed out as European Capital of Culture in 2014. The airport was built back in 1973 (as an alternative for Riga Spilve Airport) and was streamlined in 2006 and 2016. Nowadays it’s even the most important airport in the whole Balticum, with the more than 6 million passengers, which were handled back in 2017.
It is the biggest hub of Air Baltic, which is the world most „on-time airline“. Apart from Air Baltic you can see a few other european carriers in Riga – for example Aeroflot, Belavia, Corendon, LOT, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Norra, SAS, UTAir or Wizz. SmartLynx is a well known visitor as well, with its many holidayflights to Greece or Bulgaria in summer months.
A few freighter airlines are operating regular flights to/from RIX, too. DHL for example; which is coming all week days from VNO in the morning and heads back in the evening (Uptodate in Summer 2018). TNT/ASL Airlines and Sprint Air are a common sights here as well and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see a Tupolev 204 of Aviastar. Apart from this you might also see one of RAF Avia’s Saab 340 or Antonov 26, which are mostly parked for a long time north of the passenger terminal.
If we’re talking about Riga’s airport, the storage is also worth to be mentioned. West of the runway and north of the official spotting point, there is the first storage area. The second one, mostly occupied by CRJs, can be found north of terminal and east of the runway.
Also kinda storage is the Aviation museum, which can be found north-east of the PAX terminal. During our last visit it was opened daily from 10 to 17 o’clock and costs were 5 Euro per person. Inside you could find (in 2018) around 5 helicopters, 10 fighters, a few little props, an AN-2, an AN-24, many undefined aircraft parts and 3 Tu-134 nose sections. Unfortunatel the airport want to close this museum, to extend their apron, which would bring more many (once in Usage), than the museum nowadays – the airport operators think and hope!
Written by Severin Hackenberger – thanks to Gerrit Griem and Kevin Eickmann for providing pictures and information (Last visit: July 2020).
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety |  |
| Photo Locations | |
| Weather |  |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 18/36 | 3.200m/10.500ft Concrete and Asphalt |
| Terminals | |
| Concourse A&B | Schengen flights |
| Concourse C | Schengen and Non-Schengen |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | Would be very useful at spot #1 for the apron, but the Usage is NOT recommended! All along the fence(s) are signs, which say taking pictures is kinda forbidden. We always shot through the fence and photoshoped the dark corners away. We didn’t had problems this way and don’t know how the police would react, once you arrived at the fence with a ladder. |
| Car/Public Transport | Recommended as locations are far apart and switching spots will take very long otherwise. The public transport around RIX Airport is still okay, but we can’t recommend it during peak times and if you’re in a hurry. |
| Restrooms | Some gas stations and supermarkets around the airport. Restrooms are also available inside the terminal buildings as well. |
| Drinks/Food | Around the airport are a few supermarkets and restaurants. |
| Hotels | Near the airport you won’t find (almost) any hotels, just in the nearby villages. The closer you get to Riga’s downtown the much more hotels will be around. |
| Season | Summer months are better for spotting here, because the cargo traffic is quite interesting, which can be spotted best in summer. Apart from this, the runway will have worser light conditions in winter, than in summer due to the North-South direction. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 18/36 | Used for all movements in both directions and sometimes with backwind as well. During peak times with weak winds you might see 3 aircraft using RWY18, then 3 ones using RWY36 again and 3 ones using RWY18 again. The “3-aircraft-one-direction”-system we had sometimes is a quite common sight here. |
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Spot #1 – Maza Gramzdas iela – Morning Departures RWY36 + Apron |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This spot is located along/near a bumpy road called “Maza Gramzdas iela”, which is mainly used by trucks to get to the gate, which is being used to enter the apron legally.
The position can be reached from highway “P133”. Therefore just turn right, when coming from Riga centrum, just after you crossed the freeway “A10”. It’s difficult to discribe, but just after you left the highway “P133” you’ll get to a 3-exit-junction, where you’ll have to drive kinda straight on. If you pass the gym’s parking then on your left and your road gets bumpy after some time, you did it right. Keep following the bumpy road; on your way you should pass some truck parkings and storage halls on your left, mostly behind a fence. After about ~1200m you should have arrived at the apron on your left. Then search you favourite position on the field or along the fence, depending on the object and angle/moment you wanna have on your pictures. We marked the way BLUE on our map, so you can follow the way/instructions better, because discribing it well is really difficult. For departure shots keep away the fence and rather stay on the field or the dirt road, like we did, please! Then for sure no authority, which follow the cameras showing the fence, will head out to you and the spot can be used in the future as well! |
| WHAT | Depatures on runway 36 as well as the north-eastern storage apron, which is mainly occupied by CRJs, but where it’s difficult to take photos of. |
| TIME | Runway has good light conditions from sunrise till ~midday.
Normal parked aircraft on the apron have light almost only in the summer from sunrise till ~9. |
| MISC. | Ladder useful for apron shots, but not absolutely needed. If you are a good photoshoper you might also be okay with shoting through the fence and then let the fence dispaear later on. This option is possible as well, but takes more time than a simple shot with a ladder through the very spiky and “spotterunfriendly” barbed wire at the fence’s top. No ladder needed for departures.
Nothing nearby; closest facilities for food, drinks and restrooms are inside the terminal. Heat haze can be a problem in summer. If you are standing next to the fence with a camera for a long time, an authority might come and sent you away, because taking pictures here is kinda forbidden. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Apron: 18-400mm
Runway: 200-400mm |
It’s quite difficult to spot through the fence, due to the tight holes, but spotting through the barbed wire at the top is difficult as well and even not welcomed:
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Spot #2 – Field – Morning Arrivals RWY36 + Morning Departures RWY18 |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This spot is no exact position rather the area around the unnamed bumpy road (t)here. Your exact position depends on the angle/moment you wanna shot. You can take pictures from the meadows easily, but be aware to stay off the properties around the spot.
By car: The area can easily be reached from „Stīpnieku ceļš“. Therefore just turn right into an unnamed road, shortly before „Stīpnieku ceļš“ makes a left turn. Pass a construction equipment store on your left and after another ~50m a „privat street“ sign on your right – we never had problems while using the street, although it’s kinda privat and forbidden to use for the public. Anyway, keep following this bumby road for about ~300m, then you should have passed a company on your left and reached a meadow on your left as well. Park your car by the roadside and search your favourite spot. By bus: Take line 55 to stop „Milži“. Then walk by the roadside of „Stīpnieku ceļš“ street for about ~50m and turn right into an unnamed road. Pass a construction equipment store on your left and after another ~50m a „privat street“ sign on your right – we never had problems while using the street, although it’s kinda privat and forbidden to use for the public. Anyway, keep following this bumby road for about ~300m, then you should have passed a company on your left and reached a meadow on your left as well. Park your car by the roadside and search your favourite spot. We marked the way BLUE on our map, so you can follow the way/instructions better, because discribing it well is really difficult. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on runway 36 as well as 18 departures. |
| TIME | From sunrise till ~midday. |
| MISC. | KEEP OFF the company and family PROPERTIES around the spot, as already said above! No ladder needed. Nothing nearby. Heat haze can be a problem in summer. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 100 – 300mm B734 = 180mm / B757 = 150mm |
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Spot #3 – Official Spotting Location – All Afternoon runway activities |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This spot is also known as RIX’s official spotting location. It’s located west of the runway by the roadside of „Skultes iela“ street.
By car: The spotting location can be reached from the highway “A5” easily, when coming from spot #2. Therefore drive back the unnamed road from spot #2, drive down “Stīpnieku ceļš“ in southern direction for about ~1km until the highway “P132”. Follow this highway into southwestern direction for about ~2,5km till the freeway “A5”. Follow this freeway for a bit more than ~1km, then turn right into an unnamed road. Follow this road for about ~3,5km – during this drive/time you should pass a cementery just at the beginning on your left, some houses on both sides and some forestparts. Suddenly the airport perimeter fence should appear on your right and after some time you’ll head a dirtbank straight on, which is the spotting location. Park next to it and climb the kinda mound – then you have arrived at spot #3. By bus: Take line 43 to stop „Skulte“ or “Skultes stadion”. Then walk by the roadside of „Skultes iela“ street for about ~800-1000m (depending on which stop you took) into eastern direction and in the right turn of “Skultes iela” you’ll see the spotting mound on your left. Walk toward the mound and climb it at your favourite position. We marked the way BLUE on our map, so you can follow the way/instructions better, because discribing it well is really difficult. |
| WHAT | All runway activities and maybe parts of the aprons on the opposite site of the runway. |
| TIME | From late midday till sunset. |
| MISC. | No ladder needed. Nothing nearby. Heat haze is a problem in summer.
|
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50 – 300mm |
Spot itsself looks like THIS.
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Spot #4 – FBO Riga – 18 departures in the morning |
|---|---|
| WHERE | The spot is located on a field south of the “FBO Riga”. You can park your car along the dead end street and then just choose your favourite position around here. |
| WHAT | 18 Departures. |
| TIME | From sunrise till 11:30 am. |
| MISC. | No ladder needed. Nothing nearby. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 220mm for an Airbus 220-300, 260mm for an Dash 8-400 |
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Spot #5 – Gardenhouses – 18 Arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | When driving on the A10 southwards, keep right to get onto the parallely running small street. Then just after you have passed a gas station on your left, turn into a small street and then keep going on the little ways till you get to the fence (way also marked on the map). But at the end, don’t park at the fence, leave your car a few dozens meter in the back between the houses/bushes and only get out when the airplane is close in order to keep a low profile. |
| WHAT | 18 Arrivals and maybe low 36 outbounds. |
| TIME | From sunrise till early noon. |
| MISC. | No ladder needed. Nothing nearby. Take care not to park your car directly by the fence and also try to avoid attracting attention at all. Police may pass here. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-250mm |
Has the IL-28 on the pole moved into the new museum compound? It is no longer visible on google street view.
Moved to the museum.
Hi Severin,
I will investigate the area anyway….
Near spot 3 is a storage area with lots of Crj’s. Is it possible to read the registration or take pictures in this area?
Hi Andre!
We where thinking the same, but didn’t find anyone who would have been able to report yet unluckily. However you can read regs from the terminal along the windows airside…
-Sev