Liepāja International Airport is a regional airport in western

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

which is certified for international air traffic. Along with

Riga International Airport RIX Riga Airport (; ) is the international airport of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and the largest airport in the Baltic states with direct flights to 107 destinations as of September 2024. It serves as a hub for airBaltic, SmartLynx Airlines a ...

and Ventspils Airport, it is one of the three major airports in Latvia.

Overview

Liepāja International Airport is situated in

South Kurzeme Municipality South Kurzeme Municipality () is one of the 35 Municipalities of Latvia, municipalities established in Latvia in 2021. It surrounds Liepāja, Latvia's third largest city. Its first elected municipal council took office on 1 July 2021. Its seat is ...

, east of

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

, from the capital of Latvia,

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, and from the

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 ...

n border. The territory of the airport covers and is integrated within the Liepāja Special Economic Zone. On September 20, 2016, the airport was recertified for handling commercial flights after a gap of eight years. On December 5, 2016,

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 ...

conducted a test flight from Riga to Liepāja using their Bombardier CS300 aircraft. On December 6, 2016, it was announced that they would be conducting a further series of test flights in spring 2017. Flights to Riga began in 2017 with a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, between three and five times weekly, but ended in 2020.

History

The airport first began operations as a military airfield in 1940. Early during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the airfield was a Soviet Anti-Air Defense base. Its aircraft shot down a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

PB4Y-2 Privateer BuNo 59645 on April 8, 1950. The airport was closed from 20 September 2014 for infrastructure reconstruction works; re-opening on 25 May 2016; fully operational status is from September 2016. The airport held the Baltic International Airshow in 2022.

Statistics

References

External links

* South Kurzeme Municipality Airports in Latvia {{Latvia-transport-stub

Overview

History

Statistics

See also

References

External links