Ventspils International Airport is an

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 ...

southwest of

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

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 ...

. It is the newest airport and, with

Liepāja International Airport Liepāja International Airport is a regional airport in western Latvia which is certified for international air traffic. Along with Riga International Airport and Ventspils Airport, it is one of the two major airports in Latvia. Overview Liep� ...

and

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 ...

, is one of the three notable airports in the country.

Overview

Ventspils Airport was founded in 1939. From 1940, it was used by Soviet Aircraft. Once 1975 an asphalt-concrete runway () and an apron () were built. At that time there was an air control dispatchers point at the aerodrome and 40-45 employees worked in the airport. The aerodrome was used by aircraft

AN-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irk ...

AN-2 The Antonov An-2 ("kukuruznik"—corn crop duster; USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bureau ...

YAK-40 The Yakovlev Yak-40 (russian: Яковлев Як-40; NATO reporting name: Codling) is a regional jet designed by Yakovlev. The trijet's maiden flight was in 1966, and it was in production from 1967 to 1981. Introduced in September 1968, the Yak ...

, MI-2. The flight range was small and there were only two scheduled flights:

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

- Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). In addition to commercial traffic, state departments used the airport for various reasons. There were state border control flights, flights for oil pipeline control, forest patrols, traffic control, fishing inspection flights and others. Airport operation ceased in 1983 due to political decisions by the government. The possibility re-opening the airport was first discussed in the mid-1990s by which time Ventspils had become an important transport hub. The efficiency and importance of the re-opening of the Ventspils Airport was evaluated. The main conclusions of this research were that the rehabilitation of the airport would enhance the efficiency of transport corridors and foster economic activity in the region. The region possessed all the social and economic preconditions that indicate potential demand for air traffic. An operational Ventspils Airport would promote competitiveness of the Ventspils transport hub in the European and global markets. At the time the re-opening of the airport was being considered, people in the Ventspils region and corporate clients who wished to travel by air used the airport at Riga that was away from Ventspils. This added 6–8 hours of travel time to the airport in Riga and back by road. These opportunities did not satisfy the demand for air transport traffic. Work on the project "The rehabilitation of the Airport Ventspils" began in 1997. Implementation of the project began in 1999. It was developed within the National Transport Development Programme of the Republic of Latvia (1996-2010). At the start of 2001, all documentation for the airport exploitation was prepared and a modern security program was developed. The plan of safety improvements for security standards was followed by the equipping of the temporary passenger service building and establishing an electric security system. The most important result of the activities was the start of operation in 2000 upon receiving the certificate. The certificate confirmed that the aerodrome was suitable for exploitation and the first programs of flights were for conclusion that the first cycle of Ventspils Airport development was completed. On 11 April 2008, Latvian national airline

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 ...

began the first regular service from the airport to

but ceased after few months due to low patronage.

References

External links

Ventspils International Airport
{{authority control Ventspils Airports built in the Soviet Union Airports in Latvia Airports established in 1975 1975 establishments in the Soviet Union 1975 establishments in Latvia