Vilnius Airport dates to 1932, when the first civil terminal opened at Kirtimai on the southern edge of the city. Vilnius was part of Poland at the time. The Second World War destroyed the airport, and fighting left little of the original field standing. It was rebuilt under Soviet rule. In 1954 it gained the terminal building that still stands, close to the city center.
That hall was built in the grand neoclassical style favored under Stalin. It has columns, a domed ceiling, and socialist realist carvings showing idealized workers. The building is now a protected heritage monument and one of the most photographed airport terminals in Europe. Few working airports anywhere still use a hall of that age. Lithuania regained independence in 1990, and the airport became the country's main international gateway.
National airlines came and went. Lithuanian Airlines and its successor flyLAL folded in 2009, and later Lithuanian operators disappeared too, leaving no flag carrier. Low-cost airlines quickly filled the gap. Ryanair and Wizz Air based aircraft here and sell cheap basic fares, while airBaltic built a Baltic network. The runway was closed and rebuilt from scratch in 2022, and a large new passenger terminal is under construction.