The Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, in its first foray into the expanded European Union, has introduced three new routes between Rīga and the United Kingdom, Finland and Germany. And to mark the event, the airline is offering one-way tickets for as low as GBP 3.99.

The three routes, to London’s Stansted Airport, to Hahn Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, and to Tampere, Finland, open Oct. 31, Ryanair announced in a press release. Ryanair will offer daily service to and from Rīga.

The airline also announced five new routes to Spain. All together, the company said, it expects 350,000 passengers to fly the eight routes in the next year.

The introductory GBP 3.99 rate is for the London-Rīga route and does not include taxes and other charges. From Tampere to Rīga the introductory rate is GBP 4.99, and from Frankfurt to Rīga the rate is GBP 7.99.

The addition of Ryanair will bring to 18 the number of passenger and cargo airlines serving Rīga International Airport. British Airlines and the Dutch carrier KLM are among other carriers that in recent months have announced new or expanded service to Rīga.

Passenger activity at the airport continues to steadily increase, according to statistics reported by airport management. Last year, 712,000 passengers arrived or departed via Rīga, with the peak coming in September, when 73,000 were served. Through the first half of this year, 432,000 passengers had used the airport, 103,000 of them in June.

Ryanair also has introduced a Latvian language section to its Web site.

Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would waive the USD 100 visa processing fee for travelers from Latvia and other countries that are providing combat troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sponsored by Rep. William Lipiniski (D-Ill.), the bill does not specifically name any country. But Latvia is among nations with troops in both locations, according to the Latvian Ministry of Defense, with eight soldiers in Afghanistan and 133 in Iraq.

The bill would not remove the requirement for a visa, just lift the processing fee. American citizens are allowed to enter Latvia without a visa.

The bill was introduced July 14 and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Lipinski is a member of the Baltic Caucus, a collection of representatives interested in issues relevant to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Latvia’s decision to join the European Union may be swaying more Latvians in the West to repatriate, according to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. More than half of those who returned to Latvia during the first half of this year were from Western nations.

In an October referendum, Latvian voters approved their country’s entry into the EU. Membership was finalized May 1.

And that, the citizenship and migration affairs office said July 16, may be why an increasing percentage of Latvians from the West are choosing to return.

“Westerners’ increased interest in Latvia most likely is the result of the Latvian vote in favor of joining the European Union,” the office said in a press release, “which opens the state to broader and quicker economic development opportunities, and makes its economy more stable and predictable.”

In the first six months of this year, a total of 86 people repatriated to Latvia, 44 (52 percent) of whom were from Western nations. Of those, 11 were from the United States and 10 from Germany. A total of 14 returned from Russia.

In the first half of 2003, when a total of 125 people repatriated, Westerners represented 35 percent. In the second half of 2003, Westerns were 44 percent of repatriants, the citizenship and migration office announced.

A repatriant is defined under Latvian law as a person who is a Latvian citizen, or one of whose parents or grandparents is an ethnic Latvian or Liv, and who voluntarily returns to permanently live in Latvia.

The Latvian government offers financial assistance to repatriants. During the first half of this year, 80 repatriants received a total of LVL 24,272 in aid, about 80 percent of which went to travel expenses.