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-commerce flows into Europe are forcing a quiet reassessment of how air cargo networks are structured. For years, a handful of major hubs absorbed the bulk of cross-border parcel traffic arriving from Asia, supported by scale, infrastructure and es- tablished customs ecosystems. That concentration is now


showing strain. Congestion, rising handling costs, slot pressure and increasingly complex regulatory scrutiny around low-value shipments are pushing operators to reconsider whether Europe’s traditional entry points remain sustainable for the next phase of e-commerce growth. Across Northern Europe and the Baltics, a different model is begin-


ning to take shape, one built less around scale alone and more around geography, customs integration and regional distribution efficiency. For Latvijas Pasts, the Latvian national postal operator, the rapid expansion of cross-border e-commerce has effectively repositioned postal logis- tics from domestic infrastructure into a strategic air cargo facilitator linking Asia with multiple European markets simultaneously. Kristians Godins, Head of International Services and Business at


Latvijas Pasts, argues that the challenge facing global platforms is no longer simply capacity but operational balance across the supply chain. Major gateways such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Liège or Budapest con- tinue to attract enormous volumes, yet the consequences are becoming increasingly visible across handling performance and cost structures.


A regional gateway model emerges Rather than competing directly with Europe’s largest airports, Latvia’s strategy has been to position Riga as part of a wider Nordic and Baltic logistics catchment area. The approach reflects how e-commerce plat- forms increasingly distribute shipments across several entry points to mitigate operational risk and accelerate last-mile delivery. The solution has been to treat Riga as a consolidation and customs


processing gateway serving multiple destinations simultaneously. Through recently launched charter operations linked to one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce platforms, aircraft arriving into Latvia are already carrying parcels destined beyond the domestic market. “We are doing the customs clearance for the Baltics, for Finland, some


part of Poland and Czhec Republic with plans to expand geographically even further,” Godins said, noting cooperation with additional partners handling other European destinations.


War, disruption and a forced reset The Baltics’ current positioning in e-commerce logistics cannot be understood without examining the disruption triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Prior to the conflict, Riga had already de- veloped significant parcel charter activity linked to Asian platforms, supported by growing regional demand. Eligijus Jentkus, Head of the International E-Commerce and Lo-


gistics Development Division at Latvijas Pasts, recalls how quickly those operations collapsed once airspace restrictions took effect. “War started on 24th February. On 28th the airspace was closed,”


he said. Flights connecting regional markets were abruptly halted, forcing


operators to reroute volumes elsewhere in Europe. Budapest and other gateways absorbed traffic almost overnight. For airports de- pendent on charter flows, the consequences were immediate.


The disruption exposed how vulnerable e-commerce supply chains


had become to geopolitical dependency within routing structures. Yet it also accelerated adaptation. Latvijas Pasts and airport stake- holders used the intervening period to rebuild services, modernise handling processes and reposition themselves for a potential return of charter activity. When congestion and cost pressures later began affecting established hubs again, the region was ready to re-enter the market. Regulation may ultimately prove as influential as infrastructure in


determining where future e-commerce gateways emerge. European authorities are increasingly scrutinising the explosion of small par- cels entering the bloc, particularly from Chinese platforms. with new tax and compliance mechanisms under discussion. For operators handling millions of low-value shipments, customs processing capacity may become the decisive constraint.


The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals No. 1,375 20 April 2026


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RETHINKING EUROPE’S E-COMMERCE GATEWAYS


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