Liepāja International Airport is a regional airport in western

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

which is certified for international air traffic. Along with

Riga International Airport Riga International Airport ( lv, Starptautiskā lidosta "Rīga"; ) is the international airport of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and the largest airport in the Baltic states with direct flights to 76 destinations as of November 2019. It serves as ...

and

Ventspils Airport Ventspils International Airport is an airport southwest of Ventspils, Latvia. It is the newest airport and, with Liepāja International Airport and Riga International Airport, is one of the three notable airports in the country. Overview Vent ...

, it is one of the two major airports in Latvia.

Overview

Liepāja International Airport is situated in

South Kurzeme Municipality South Kurzeme Municipality ( lv, Dienvidkurzemes novads) is one of the 35 municipalities established in Latvia in 2021. It surrounds Liepāja, Latvia's third largest city. Its first elected municipal council will take office on 1 July 2021. Its sea ...

, east of Liepāja, from the capital of Latvia,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, and from the

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 ...

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, 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 ...

conducted a test flight from Riga to Liepāja using their

Bombardier CS300 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2 ...

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 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

, between three and five times weekly, but ended in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

History

Early during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the airfield was a

Soviet Anti-Air Defense The Soviet Air Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО, ''voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony'', ''voyska PVO'', ''V-PVO'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence Troops''; and formerly ''protivovozdushnaya oborona strany'', ''PVO strany'', lit. ''Anti-Air De ...

base. Its aircraft shot down a U.S. Air Force 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.

Airlines and destinations

As of 31 March 2022, there are no regular passenger flights to/from Liepaja airport.

Statistics

Ground transport

Bus route #2 runs between Liepaja International Airport and the city centre.

References

External links

Liepāja International Airport
South Kurzeme Municipality Airports in Latvia Courland {{Latvia-transport-stub