The Lithuanian aviation industry consists largely of the charter, executive, and ACMI airlines. But unlike Latvia, which has its national airline airBaltic, and Estonia, which owns Nordica, Lithuania does not have its own national airline and for the time being, is not considering establishing one. Let’s find out why.

Bankruptcy era

It may have been forgotten, but Lithuania has attempted to establish a successful national airline on three occasions.

The first attempt was made with the establishment of Lithuanian Airlines in September 1991, shortly after the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union. The airline had inherited the aircraft of the defunct Vilnius-based Aeroflot branch and operated scheduled domestic and international scheduled services from its main base at Vilnius International Airport (VNO).

However, after more than a decade of financial difficulties, Lithuanian Airlines began to restructure. The airline was sold to private company LAL Investment Management in 2005 and rebranded to flyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines. However, the airline could not be saved without the help of the government, fierce competition from neighboring airlines, and the decline in travel demand due to the global economic crisis.

In 2009, flyLAL filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations with the last flight between Amsterdam and Vilnius in January, significantly reducing the number of direct flights from Vilnius.

The…