flyLAL (also known as Lithuanian Airlines and LAL) was the

national airline A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, based in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. It operated domestic and international scheduled services from its main base at

Vilnius International Airport Vilnius Čiurlionis International Airport () is the airport of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is located south of the city center. It is the largest of the three commercial airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic, with one runway and ...

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

3 April 2007 Due to financial difficulties the airline suspended operations on 17 January 2009.

History

Establishment and privatization

The airline was established as government-owned Lietuvos Avialinijos (Lithuanian Airlines) on 20 September 1991, shortly after Lithuania's independence from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Initially, it operated using aircraft of the

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

fleet located in

(twelve

Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airliner produced in the Soviet Union ...

, seven

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain oth ...

, four

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/ Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by the Kyiv ...

, and three

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

airliners). During the period from 1991 to 1993, the airline re-oriented its route network from the countries of the former Soviet Union to

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. From the beginning, the airline faced stiff competition with

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

and

Scandinavian Airlines The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden. Including its subsidiaries SAS Link and ...

. In December 1991 Lithuanian Airlines sub-leased its first

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

from

Malév Hungarian Airlines MALÉV Ltd. (), which did business as MALÉV Hungarian Airlines (, abbreviated ''MALÉV'', ), was the flag carrier of Hungary from 1946 until 2012. Its head office was in Budapest, with its main hub at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airpor ...

. Six months later, the aircraft was leased directly from

Guinness Peat Aviation Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) was an aircraft leasing company set up in 1975 by Aer Lingus, the Guinness Peat Group (a London-based financial services company) and Tony Ryan, then an Aer Lingus executive. History GPA was based in Shannon, I ...

and bore the registration LY-GPA. After a decade of loss-making operations, abortive plans to launch a trans-Atlantic service, and the widely criticized sale of

landing slots __NOTOC__ A landing slot, takeoff slot, or airport slot is a permission granted by a slot coordinator to use the infrastructure of an airport designated as Level 3 (Coordinated Airport) for take-off and/or landing at a specific time and date. Slo ...

London Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

to cover some

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

20 million in debt, Lithuanian Airlines was

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

in 2005. The airline was acquired by ''LAL Investicijų Valdymas'' (LAL Investment Management), a wholly owned subsidiary of the

FlyLal Group Avia Solutions Group is a Lithuanian-owned ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance) provider and holding company. Established in 2010 in Vilnius, it moved its headquarters to Dublin, Ireland in 2023, and has additional offices around th ...

, for 27 million

Lithuanian litas The Lithuanian litas (ISO 4217, ISO currency code LTL, symbolized as Lt; plural ''litai'' (nominative) or ''litų'' (genitive) was the currency of Lithuania, until 1 January 2015, when it was replaced by the euro. It was divided into 100 Cent ...

. The airline was subsequently renamed flyLAL–Lithuanian Airlines. In February 2007, flyLAL was recognized as most punctual airline at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

.Lithuania's main airline wants its luck to change, so that it can realise its bold ambitions
March 4, 2008
The Economist Intelligence Unit
It had 542 employees as of March 2007. As of December 2007, the airline had three

Boeing 737-300 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

, five

Boeing 737-500 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

, and four

SAAB 2000 The Saab 2000 is a twin-engined high-speed turboprop airliner built by Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab. It is designed to carry 50–58 passengers and able to cruise at a maximum speed of . Production took place in Linköping, Sweden. It ...

airliners and had plans for further expansion. During 2007, the number of passengers grew by 14% to 526,000. In 2008, charter flight services were transferred to sister company

FlyLal Charters Small Planet Airlines was a Lithuanian leisure airline based at Vilnius Airport with further bases throughout Europe. It was the subsidiary of the Small Planet Group which also owned sister companies in Cambodia, Germany, Italy, and Poland, all ...

, leaving only scheduled flights for FlyLal.

Bankruptcy

During 2008, FlyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines suffered from a

price war A price war is a form of market competition in which companies within an industry engage in aggressive pricing activity "characterized by the repeated cutting of prices below those of competitors". This leads to a cycle, where each competitor att ...

with

airBaltic airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia. Its head office are located on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its main airline hub, hub is Riga, and it o ...

and slowing of the travel industry due to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. Despite the crisis, the number of passengers grew by 61% during 2008. In December 2008, the company admitted to suffering financial difficulties and having debts of 86 million litas (26.1 mln euros). It offered 51% of its shares to the

Government of Lithuania The Government of Lithuania, officially the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (GRL), is the Cabinet (government), cabinet of and exercising executive power in Lithuania. Among other responsibilities, it executes laws and resolutions of the ...

for a symbolic sum of 1 litas in exchange for a state guarantee of its debt. The government declined the offer. Shortly afterwards FlyLal announced that it would sell 100% of shares to SCH Swiss Capital Holdings, a previously unknown company registered in December 2008. The company was sold for US$1 million effective 23 January 2009. The new owners agreed to advance 1 million euros to cover some of the debts and prevent the cancellation of FlyLal's operating licence. When the advance was not received, the deal was terminated and FlyLal announced termination of its activities effective 17 January 2009. Another proposal for a government bailout was rejected on 23 January 2009. The bankruptcy of FlyLAL significantly reduced the number of direct flights from Vilnius, from 28 to 14 destinations, and the number of passengers at Vilnius Airport decreased by 43 percent.

Former destinations

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Innsbruck Airport Innsbruck Airport , also known locally as ''Kranebitten Airport'', is the largest international airport in Tyrol in western Austria. It is located approximately from the centre of Innsbruck. The airport, which was opened in 1925, handles regio ...

(seasonal) *

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Budapest Ferihegy International Airport Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (, ) , formerly known as Budapest Ferihegy International Airport and commonly denoted as Ferihegy (), is the international airport serving the Hungarian capital city of Budapest. It is the largest of ...

Base *

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Sheremetyevo International Airport Sheremetyevo International Airport (, , Internal code: ШРМ) is one of four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states, as well as the ninth-busiest airport in Euro ...

in Moscow *

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Madrid Barajas International Airport Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Málaga Airport Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, Madrid–Barajas, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport, Barcelona–El Prat and Palma de Mallorca Airport, Palma d ...

(seasonal) *

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Boryspil International Airport The Boryspil International Airport () , also known as Kyiv Boryspil Airport, is an international airport in Boryspil, east of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It is Ukraine's largest airport, serving 65% of its passenger air traffic, including al ...

in Kyiv *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in London *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

: Tbilisi Airport

References

External links