Air Lituanica

Air Lituanica was a Lithuanian airline headquartered in Vilnius and based at Vilnius Airport. It ceased operations in May 2015 (2015-05).

Air Lituanica

IATA ICAO Call sign LT[1] LTU LITUANICA
Founded	May 2013 (2013-05)
Ceased operations	22 May 2015 (2015-05-22)
Hubs	Vilnius Airport
Fleet size	4
Destinations	10
Parent company	Start Vilnius (68.7%)[2]
Headquarters	Vilnius, Lithuania
Key people	Kęstutis Binkauskas, Chairman[3] Gytis Gumuliauskas, CEO[3]
Website	airlituanica.com

History

An Embraer 170 in Air Lituanica markings. The carrier deployed an aircraft of the type on the first route served, Vilnius–Brussels.^[4]

Air Lituanica was registered in late May 2012 (2012-05). It was named after Lituanica, an aircraft commanded by Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas, two pioneer Lithuanian pilots that flew it on a transatlantic flight in 1933.^[5] The carrier's sole owner, Air Vilnius Group, had an initial investment of LTL0.5 million. Air Vilnius Group was in turn owned by Šiaurės miestelis, which had been registered on 21 May 2012 (2012-05-21) as a subsidiary of the Vilnius City Municipality. Plans were to collect LTL43.5 million (EUR14 million) from a number of investors for the establishment of the new airline.^[6]

Air Lituanica was established in May 2013 (2013-05).^[7] The activation of the company was partly accelerated by the fact that Lithuania would take position in the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 July 2013 (2013-07-01) to 31 December 2013 (2013-12-31).^[8][9] In May 2013 (2013-05) - when the airline's air operator's certificate had not yet been granted but it already had 27 employees – Air Lituanica announced Brussels as its first destination, with services to start on 30 June 2013 (2013-06-30).^[10]

Air Lituanica launched ticket sales in early June 2013 (2013-06) using Estonian Air's booking channels.^[11] Also in early June 2013 (2013-06), the airline signed a contract for the lease through 2015 of an Embraer E-170 from Estonian Air.^[12][13] Air Lituanica received its air operator's certificate on 26 June 2013 (2013-06-26);^[14] and started flight operations four days later, on 30 June 2013, serving the Vilnius–Brussels route with the leased Embraer E-170.^[4][15][16] Air Lituanica thus became the first Lithuanian scheduled airline to operate since FlyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines and Star1 Airlines ceased operations in 2009 and 2010, respectively.^[8]

An 86-seater Embraer E-175 leased from ECC Leasing Company, an Embraer subsidiary, entered Air Lituanica's fleet in July 2013 (2013-07);^[17] Embraer handed the aircraft over to Air Lituanica two months later than planned.^[18] The carrier started flying its second route, Vilnius–Amsterdam–Vilnius, on 8 July; with its first two routes, the airline contributed 2 percent of the international airline capacity in Lithuania, and at July 2013^[update], the company ranked 9th in terms of available seats to and from Lithuania.^[8] It added Berlin Tegel Airport in Berlin, Prague, and Munich to its route network on 5 August, 20 September and 21 September 2013 (2013-09-21), respectively.^[19][20][21]

Following allegations of missed payments from both parties,^[22] Estonian Air unilaterally terminated its leasing agreement with Air Lituanica for the Embraer E-170 in November 2013 (2013-11)^[23][24][25] which forced Air Lituanica to end service to Amsterdam and Berlin, the routes on which it used the E-170.^[26] Service to Amsterdam ceased on 27 November 2013 (2013-11-27).^[27]

In April 2014 (2014-04), Air Lituanica announced that it would begin flights to Gothenburg and Malmö, Sweden, to be served on a seasonal basis between June and August 2014 (2014-08),^[28] and that it would resume flights to Amsterdam.^[29]

Air Lituanica ceased flight operations on 22 May 2015 (2015-05-22).^[30] It filed for bankruptcy on 8 June 2015.^[31]

Destinations

Air Lituanica served the following destinations:^[32]

Country	City	Airport	Begin	End	Refs
Belgium	Brussels	Brussels Airport	30 June 2013	22 May 2015	[4]
Czech Republic	Prague	Prague Václav Havel Airport	20 September 2013	22 May 2015	[20]
Denmark	Billund	Billund Airport	16 June 2014	22 May 2015	[33][34]
Estonia	Tallinn	Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport	12 March 2014	22 May 2015	[35]
France	Paris	Charles de Gaulle Airport	14 February 2014	22 May 2015	[36]
Germany	Berlin	Berlin Tegel Airport	5 August 2013	22 May 2015	[19]
Germany	Hamburg	Hamburg Airport	30 April 2015	22 May 2015	[37][38]
Germany	Munich	Munich Airport	21 September 2013	22 May 2015	[21]
Lithuania	Vilnius	Vilnius Airport Hub	—	—	[4]
Netherlands	Amsterdam	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol	31 August 2014	22 May 2015	[29][39]
Sweden	Göteborg	Göteborg Landvetter Airport	16 June 2014	22 May 2015	[40]
Sweden	Malmö	Malmö Airport	17 June 2014	22 May 2015	[28]
Sweden	Stockholm	Bromma Airport	26 January 2015	22 May 2015	[41]

Fleet

At February 2015 (2015-02) the Air Lituanica fleet consisted of a single Embraer 175.^[42]

See also

• Transportation in Lithuania

References

1. "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
2. Moores, Victoria (31 January 2014). "Air Lituanica receives fresh capital". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
3. "Gytis Gumuliauskas appointed the new head of Air Lituanica". Air Lituanica. 18 July 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. 
4. Moores, Victoria (2 July 2013). "Lithuanian start-up Air Lituanica launches operations". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013.
5. Moores, Victoria (5 June 2013). "Start-up Air Lituanica secures two E-Jets for June launch". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013.
6. "Vilnius city municipality establishes an airline company". The Lithuania Tribune. 3 June 2012. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014.
7. "Air Lituanica happy with Estonian Air co-operation". The Lithuania Tribune. 19 July 2013. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014.
8. "Air Lituanica launches operations, becomes Lithuania's sole scheduled airline". Centre for Aviation. 12 July 2013. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013.
9. Kaminski-Morrow, David (10 December 2012). "Lithuanian start-up aims to be ready for EU presidency". London: Flightglobal. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
10. "Air Lituanica has announced its first routes and ticket prices". The Lithuania Tribune. 15 May 2013. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014.
11. Pavilenene, Danuta (7 June 2013). "Air Lituanica launches ticket sales". Vilnius: The Baltic Course. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013.
12. Bonnassies, Oliver (5 June 2013). "Air Lituanica to start flights with leased Embraer 170". London: Flightglobal. Archived from the original on 1 July 2013.
13. "Air Lituanica and Estonian Air signed a lease agreement for E170 aircraft" (Press release). Estonian Air. 4 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
14. "Air Lituanica obtains commercial activity license". The Lithuania Tribune. 8 August 2013. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014.
15. Ricci, Joël (30 June 2013). "Air Lituanica arrive à Bruxelles" [Air Lituanica arrived in Brussels] (in French). Air Journal. Archived from the original on 8 July 2013.
16. Blachly, Linda (18 June 2013). "Air Lituanica acquires two Embraer E-Jets". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013.
17. "Air Lituanica Selects Embraer E-Jets". PRNewswire. 18 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
18. "Vilnius airport welcomed the second Air Lituanica aircraft". The Lithuania Tribune. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014.
19. Moores, Victoria (5 August 2013). "Start-up Air Lituanica adds Berlin Tegel service". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013.
20. "Air Lituanica inaugurated its first flight from Prague". The Lithuania Tribune. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014.
21. "New route Vilnius - Munich" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 24 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014.
22. Moores, Victoria (3 December 2013). "Estonian Air, Air Lituanica split over debts dispute". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013.
23. "Air Lituanica claims that commercial co-operation with Estonian Air was terminated unilaterally". The Lithuania Tribune. 28 November 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. 
24. "Estonian Air terminates its contractual relationship with Air Lituanica". The Lithuania Tribune. 28 November 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. 
25. "Estonian Air Cancels Contract with Air Lituanica, Citing Payment Problems". EER News. 28 November 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014.
26. "Estonian Air, Air Lituanica divorce after fight over non-payments". 29 November 2013.
27. "Commercial cooperation between Air Lituanica and Estonian Air was terminated unilaterally" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014.
28. "Air Lituanica to launch flights to two cities of Sweden this summer" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 4 April 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2014.
29. "Air Lituanica resumes flights to Amsterdam" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 30 April 2014. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014.
30. Dron, Alan (22 May 2015). "Air Lituanica halts services". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. 
31. "Air Lituanica files for bankruptcy".
32. "Air Lituanica flights". Air Lituanica. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015.
33. "Airline Routes". Air Transport World. 28 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Air Lituanica will keep 2X-weekly Vilnius-Billund on its schedule of regular flights, going off seasonal-only service. 
34. "Autumn to bring more flights from Lithuania to Denmark" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 29 July 2014. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. 
35. "New destination - Tallinn". 12 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
36. "New flight to Paris" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014.
37. "Air Lituanica started flights from Vilnius to Hamburg" (Press release). Air Lituanica. 30 April 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. 
38. Young, Kathryn M. (19 May 2015). "Airline Routes-19 May 2015". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Air Lituanica launched Vilnius-Hamburg, its third direct flight to Germany. 
39. "Airline Routes". Air Transport World. 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. Air Lituanica begins daily Vilnius-Amsterdam Embraer E-175 service Aug. 31 and increases from 10X-weekly to 12X-Tallinn-Vilnius service.
40. "Air Lituanica adds three new routes to Scandinavia". The Baltic Course. 18 June 2014. Archived from the original on 24 June 2014.
41. "Airline Routes-Nov. 17, 2014". Air Transport World. 17 November 2014. Archived from the original on 18 November 2014. Air Lituanica begins 10X-weekly Vilnius-Stockholm Bromma Jan. 26. 
42. "Fleet". Air Lituanica. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. 

External links

Media related to Air Lituanica at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website