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History of Lappeenranta Airport

Lappeenranta Airport (IATA: LPP, ICAO: EFLP) is situated about two kilometres west of Lappeenranta city centre. In 2013, 98,300 passengers utilised the airport, making it the 11th busiest in Finland. The airport was established in 1918 and is the oldest still-operating airport in Finland. Additionally, the airport's land is a nationally important roosting site, where endangered butterfly and barnacle species have been recorded.

The airport area is an old military campsite. First used for military aviation in 1918, the first airliner landed in 1951, and the airport developed into an airfield in the early 1960s, when the current terminal was built.

HISTORICAL cornerstones

  • 1918 Lappeenranta Airport is founded when the Air Force Department flies from Antrea Airport to Lappeenranta, and Flight Department 1 is established.

  • 1939-1944 The airfield served as a military airfield and in the summer of 1944 as one of the main bases for fighter planes.

  • 1951 Regular passenger traffic at the former military airport began.

  • 1960 The airport's current terminal building was completed.

  • 1998 The runway was extended to 2,500 m.

  • 2009 Lappeenranta Airport goes international when Air Baltic and Ryanair open routes to European destinations.

  • 2011 The airport reached a record 116,000 passengers.

  • 2012 Blue1 launched flights from Lappeenranta to Copenhagen.

  • 2016 The airport is taken over by the city.

  • 2018 International scheduled flights returned to Lappeenranta when Ryanair opened a route from Lappeenranta to Milan-Bergamo.