Lappeenranta Airport () is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is 2.5 kilometers southwest of the city center and Lappeenranta Central Station. Opened in 1918, Lappeenranta Airport is the oldest airport still in operation in Finland. The Karelia Aviation Museum is in the airport. Flight goes on low altitude straight over Lappeenranta midtown which is located 1½ kilometer (1 mile) from the eastern end of the runway.

History

The airport opened in 1918. Between 1939 and 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the airport operated as a military

air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

. In 1951, passenger traffic began at the airport. In 1960, the existing terminal was completed. In 1998, the runway was extended to 2,500 metres. In September 2006, the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

between

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

and

Kerava Kerava (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Kerava is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kerava is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality ...

opened, shortening the travel time by rail to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and caused the closure of the Lappeenranta-Helsinki air route. In March 2010,

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

started flights to Lappeenranta, its second destination in Finland after Tampere Airport. The passenger record was in 2010 with 115,000 passengers. The airport was in 2014 on 73nd position in the list of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries. The only airline flying to Lappeenranta, Ryanair, ceased all flights there on 21 October 2015. In 2016, ownership of the airport changed from the state-owned

Finavia Finavia Oyj, formerly the Finnish Civil Aviation Administration, is the public limited company responsible for maintaining and developing Finland's airport network. Finavia manages and develops 20 airports around the country, 18 of which pri ...

to a company owned by the City of Lappeenranta, Lappeenrannan Lentoasema Oy. The airport had no scheduled flights 2016–2017, but Ryanair restarted again in March 2018.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at the airport: In addition to the scheduled passenger service listed above, there are a few seasonal

air charter Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

s to European holiday destinations.

Statistics

Ground transportation

Local bus number 4, which departs in front of the airport terminal, operates service to/from the city center and Lappeenranta railway station. Taxi service is also available. From the railway station, further connections to

are offered by VR, Savonlinja, and

OnniBus.com OnniBus.com is a Finnish express coach operator. It commenced operating in 2011. History In 2011, OnniBus was founded by Pekka Möttö, Lauri Helke, Petteri Rantala and Pertti Möttö. In May 2014, Brian Souter's Highland Global Transport ...

. The distance from midtown by road to the terminal is 2½ kilometer (1½ mile).

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Airports in Finland

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

Buildings and structures in South Karelia International airports in Finland