Rīga-based airBaltic Corp. has received approval to begin flights from Europe to the United States, but eager Latvian tourists should not start packing their bags just yet.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 22 approved an application from airBaltic and its longtime partner Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) to operate transatlantic flights under a code-share agreement. Under a code-share agreement, airBaltic would be able to market flights to the U.S., but the airplanes and crew would be those of SAS.

However, when such flights might begin is not clear.

“Even though airBaltic has previously expressed interest in opening flights to the U.S., in 2009 we definitely will not yet be doing so because of the global economic situation,” Jānis Vanags, airBaltic’s vice president for corporate communications, told Latvians Online in an e-mail.

According to a public notice issued by the DOT, SAS and airBaltic initially would intend to serve the following routes: New York (Newark Liberty International Airport) and Copenhagen; New York (Newark) and Stockholm; Chicago (Chicago O’Hare International Airport) and Copenhagen; Chicago (O’Hare) and Stockholm; and Washington, D.C. (Dulles International Airport), and Copenhagen. AirBaltic has connecting routes to Rīga from Copenhagen and Stockholm.

The Latvian carrier’s authority to operate the code-shared flights would expire in May 2010, according to the public notice.

Latvia joined the U.S. Visa Waiver Program in November, meaning that Latvian citizens are able to travel to the United States without a visa.

AirBaltic was formed in 1995. Its majority stockholder, controlling 52.6 percent of shares, is the Latvian government.

Although like many other airlines the company is facing economic pressures, airBaltic recorded a 36 percent increase in passengers during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2008, Vanags said. This summer, the airline is opening seven new routes from Rīga to Dushanbe, Tajikistan; Geneva, Switzerland; Linkoping, Sweden; Tromsø, Norway; Turku, Finland; and Palanga and Kaunas, Lithuania.

Two paintings by Latvian-American artist Ludolfs Liberts, each valued at about USD 10,000, have been donated by his granddaughter to a new fine arts center opening soon at East Central University in Oklahoma.

The paintings will become part of an exhibit in the new Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center, according to a press release from the university in Ada, Okla.

The paintings—one depicting a scene in Germany and the other apparently Venice, Italy—are a gift to East Central from Melita Long, who works on campus for Chartwell’s Dining Service.

“They were just sitting in my house, so I talked to my mom before I did this and went from there. She was all for it,” Long said in the press release. Long’s mother is Jana Mitchell, a resident of Altus, Okla.

The prolific Liberts was born in 1895 in Latvia and died 1959 in New York. He was especially known for his landscapes and cityscapes, but also did set and costume design, according to the press release. He was married to opera singer Amanda Liberts Rebane. The couple, with their daughter Jana, fled Latvia during World War II to Austria and Germany. In 1950, they moved to New York, where Liberts continued to paint and taught at New York City College.

“Ludolfs Liberts was one of the 20th century’s most notable Latvian artists and influenced mightily our art culture,” Guna S. Mundheim, president of the American Latvian Artists Association, told Latvians Online in an e-mail. “We can be happy that his grandchildren have donated two of his works to East Central University in Oklahoma, where by virtue of being at an educational institution they will continue to speak to future generations about our culture in an international context.”

Long never met her grandfather, according to the press release, but she searched the Internet for background.

“He’s more popular than I thought,” Long said. “He was very talented and very well known.”

Brad Jessop, chairman of the university’s art department, said he appreciated Long’s donation.

“If I hadn’t had the experience before of bumping into people who had a good painting, I would have been more surprised,” he said in the press release. “It’s funny how life takes you on a certain journey and you end up in a certain place. I think it’s great Melita did this.”

Liberts’ work is found in public and private collections in Europe and the U.S., including the Latvian National Museum of Art (Latvijas Nacionālais mākslas muzejs), to which most of his collection was sent after his death. Jana Mitchell and her late husband, Charles W. Mitchell, donated one of her father’s paintings to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in the 1950s. The painting is titled “Moulin Rouge, Paris – At Night,” Leslie A. Spears, the museum’s communication manager, said in an e-mail.

(Updated with quote from Guna S. Mundheim.)

Melita Long (right) shows off one of two paintings by Ludolfs Liberts that she has donated to East Central University in Oklahoma. Also participating in the presentation were (from left) Brad Jessop, chair of ECU’s Department of Art; and Long’s niece and sister, Kyra Spradling and Mary Spradling. Long and Mary Spradling are granddaughters of the famous painter. (Photo courtesy of East Central University)