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

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), 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. Lithuania ...

, based in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

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

Vilnius International Airport Vilnius Airport ( lt, Vilniaus oro uostas) is the international airport of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is located south of the city. It is the largest of the three commercial airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic. With one runway ...

Flight International ''Flight International'' 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", it is the world's oldes ...

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 Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Initially, it operated using aircraft of the

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

fleet located in

(twelve Yakovlev Yak-42, seven Tupolev Tu-134, four Antonov An-24, and three Antonov An-26 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 countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

. From the beginning, the airline faced stiff competition with

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

and

Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

. In December 1991 Lithuanian Airlines sub-leased its first Boeing 737-200 from

Malév Hungarian Airlines MALÉV Ltd. ( hu, Malév Zrt.), which did business as MALÉV Hungarian Airlines ( hu, Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat, abbreviated ''MALÉV'', ), was the flag carrier of Hungary from 1946 until 2012. Its head office was in Budapest, with i ...

. Six months later, the aircraft was leased directly from

Guinness Peat Aviation Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) was a Commercial Aircraft Sales and 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 bas ...

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 at

London Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

to cover some

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

20 million in debt, Lithuanian Airlines was

privatized Privatization (also 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 when ...

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 provider of aviation capacity solutions for passenger and cargo airlines worldwide. Headquartered in Vilnius (Lithuania), the group manages over 100 offices and production facilities globally and employs a majority of its ...

, for 27 million Lithuanian litas. 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 , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

.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, five Boeing 737-500, 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 cruise at a speed of . Production took place in Linköping in southern Sweden. The Saab ...

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 with

airBaltic airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its main hub is Riga, and it operates bases in T ...

and slowing of the travel industry due to the

global economic crisis Global economic crisis may refer to: *Economic events of the 21st Century: **Financial crisis of 2007–2008 ** Great Recession **The 2020 stock market crash *A global recession *Earlier global economic events, such as: **The Great Depression, a glo ...

. 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 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, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

: Innsbruck Airport (seasonal) *

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres. ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the 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 a ...

: Budapest Ferihegy International Airport *

Base *

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

: Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow *

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

: Madrid Barajas International Airport &

Málaga Airport Málaga Airport , officially Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport ( es, Aeropuerto de Málaga-Costa del Sol) since June 2011, is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid–Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is significant for Spa ...

(seasonal) *

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

: Boryspil International Airport 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in London * Georgia: Tbilisi Airport

References

External links