Lappeenranta Airport ( fi, Lappeenrannan lentoasema) is an international

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

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It is 2.5 kilometers southwest of the city center and

Lappeenranta Central Station Lappeenranta Central Station (Finnish: ''Lappeenrannan rautatieasema'', Swedish language: ''Villmanstrands järnvägsstation'') is a train station located in the city of Lappeenranta in Finland. The station is served by traffic to Helsinki and J ...

. Opened in 1918, Lappeenranta Airport is the oldest airport still in operation in Finland. The Karelia Aviation Museum is in the airport. Flight go 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the airport operated as a military

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

. 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 that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

between

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

and

Kerava Kerava (; sv, Kervo) is a town and municipality within the Uusimaa region of Finland. The municipalities of Vantaa, Sipoo and Tuusula are adjacent to Kerava, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The town has a population of () an ...

opened, shortening the travel time by rail to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

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

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

started flights to Lappeenranta, its second destination in Finland after

Tampere Airport Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...

. 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 This is a list of the 100 busiest airports in the Nordic countries by passengers per year, aircraft movements per year and freight and mail tonnes per year. The list also includes yearly statistics for the busiest metropolitan airport systems and ...

. 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 primar ...

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 airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

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. 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 air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

Buildings and structures in South Karelia International airports in Finland