Interview: Laila Odina, CEO of Latvia’s RIX Riga Airport

Passenger Terminal Today
Elizabeth Baker
23 May 2024

Laila Odina, CEO of Latvia’s RIX Riga Airport, sits down with PTW to talk about the airport’s many development projects and her presentation at 2024’s Passenger Terminal Conference in Frankfurt

Please tell us about your journey through the aviation industry.

I pursued my career in aviation as soon as I left school. First, I became a flight attendant and worked for many airlines in this position until 1995. Then, I joined the newly established Latvian airline airBaltic. I began in managerial cabin relations roles, then I became the director of HR and administration. Following that, I was chief operations officer of airBaltic for seven years. After 16 years at airBaltic, I decided, ‘I should look for something else’, and left the airline in 2012.

For the three years after this, I was in Baku, Azerbaijan, leading the local passenger airlines there. I applied for the supervisory board position at Riga Airport (RIX) in 2018. Then, in mid-April 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, I became CEO...

[Read more: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Laila Odina, CEO of Latvia’s RIX Riga Airport - Passenger Terminal Today]