Vilnius airport celebrates 100-year anniversary

Vilnius Airport
DELFI / Tomas Vinickas

Vilnius airport started as a military airport in 1915 during the German occupation. Through its 100-year existence, it has belonged to four different states: Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union and Lithuania.

In 1932, the military airport was transformed into a civilian airport and the first passenger line Warsaw-Vilnius-Riga-Tallinn opened. In 1946, the Soviets built a new terminal which has remained ever since, and is now used by an aircraft maintenance company.

The main airport building was built in 1954 by Romanian and Italian prisoners of war. After the re-establishment of Lithuania‘s independence, construction of a new passenger departure-arrival wing was completed and flights with Russian planes were discontinued. Foreign Airlines then started flying to and from Lithuania.

Changes are planned in 2017 for the airport, with the reconstruction of the 40-year-old aircraft runway. Vilnius Airport is one of the oldest continuously operating airports in the world.

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