Liepāja International Airport

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Liepāja International Airport Template:Airport codes 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 three major airports in Latvia.

OverviewEdit

Liepāja International Airport is situated in South Kurzeme Municipality, Template:Convert east<ref name="AIP"/> of Liepāja, Template:Convert from the capital of Latvia, Riga, and Template:Convert from the Lithuanian border. The territory of the airport covers Template:Convert 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On December 5, 2016, airBaltic conducted a test flight from Riga to Liepāja using their Bombardier CS300 aircraft.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On December 6, 2016, it was announced that they would be conducting a further series of test flights in spring 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Flights to Riga began in 2017 with a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, between three and five times weekly, but ended in 2020.

HistoryEdit

The airport first began operations as a military airfield in 1940.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Early during the Cold War, the airfield was a Soviet Anti-Air Defense base. Its aircraft shot down a U.S. Air Force PB4Y-2 Privateer BuNo 59645 on April 8, 1950.<ref name=Attacks>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The airport held the Baltic International Airshow in 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>