flyLAL – Lithuanian Airlines

Anyone who went spotting in Frankfurt, Amsterdam or London Gatwick in the 1990s and 2000s has probably run into it: a small Boeing 737 with a Lithuanian LY- registration, first with “Lithuanian Airlines” titles, later as “flyLAL”. Lithuania’s national airline was never big, but in a small space it tells the whole story of aviation in the Baltics after 1991 – from the Aeroflot legacy through the switch to Western aircraft to the tough competition with low-cost and neighboring airlines. In January 2009, it was over. Here you can learn where the airline came from, which aircraft it flew and how to recognize it on old photos.

flyLAL at a glance

flyLAL – Lithuanian Airlines was the national airline of Lithuania, headquartered in Vilnius with a hub at Vilnius Airport. A second focus was the Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga. In Lithuanian, the company was called Lietuvos avialinijos, abbreviated LAL – and after the privatization, that became the brand flyLAL.

The airline came into being in 1991, shortly after Lithuania regained its independence. The basis was the existing Vilnius division of the Soviet Aeroflot: aircraft, staff and infrastructure went to the new state-owned company. At the same time, Lithuania already had an aviation tradition from the interwar period, which the new national airline could pick up.

Economically, LAL always remained a small airline. In 2007, it carried around 526,000 passengers, and in March 2007, 542 people worked for the company. By comparison, big network airlines such as Lufthansa or SAS, which also flew to Vilnius from the start, played in a completely different league.

Codes and registration

• IATA code TE: appeared before flight numbers, on tickets and on departure boards.
• ICAO code LIL: identifier in the air traffic control flight plan.
• Registration LY-: Lithuania’s nationality mark, carried by all of the airline’s aircraft.

With historic airlines in particular, it pays to keep the IATA and ICAO codes cleanly separate. The flight number tells you under which name a flight was sold, the ICAO code who actually operated it. How the two relate is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. And because former LAL aircraft went to other operators after 2009, it’s worth looking at the aircraft’s later history on archive photos – you’ll find background in the article on re-registrations.

History: from Kaunas in 1938 to Vilnius in 2009

The predecessor: Lietuvos oro linijos (1938–1940)

Lithuania’s first state airline was called Lietuvos oro linijos and was based in Kaunas, then the country’s capital, at Aleksotas airfield. It was officially founded in September 1938, and according to Lithuanian Wikipedia it even made its first flight a few days earlier. The fleet was tiny: two twin-engine Percival Q.6s from Great Britain with six seats each, registered as LY-SOA and LY-SOB.

It flew mainly seasonally between Kaunas and the seaside resort of Palanga on the Baltic Sea. In 1939, the first international route was added with Kaunas–Riga. The numbers show how small the operation was: in 1938 there were 34 flights with 31 passengers, and in 1939 a total of 216 flights with 764 passengers. With the Soviet occupation, everything ended in June 1940; aircraft and staff went to Aeroflot.

A restart with an Aeroflot legacy (1991–1995)

After independence, Lithuania founded the state-owned Lithuanian Airlines in 1991. At the start, it took over the aircraft that had until then been stationed in Vilnius for Aeroflot: twelve Yak-42s, seven Tu-134s, four An-24s and three An-26s. The route network quickly reoriented, though – away from the former Soviet republics and toward Western Europe.

In December 1991, the first Western aircraft arrived: a Boeing 737-200, which LAL initially subleased from the Hungarian Malév. About half a year later, a 737 leased directly from the lessor Guinness Peat Aviation followed, with the fitting registration LY-GPA. Lithuanian Wikipedia describes LAL as one of the first operators of a Western airliner in Eastern Europe. In the early 1990s, the airline also became a member of IATA.

The new national airline did not have it easy. From the start, big companies such as Lufthansa and SAS also flew to Vilnius and competed for the same business travelers.

Western fleet and state losses (1996–2004)

In the second half of the 1990s, LAL gradually replaced the Soviet types. In 1996 came Saab 340s, and in 1998 the faster Saab 2000 – both turboprops from the Swedish manufacturer Saab. On the longer routes, the airline flew Boeing 737-300s and 737-500s.

Financially, things went less well. After about a decade of losses, failed plans for transatlantic flights and a controversial sale of landing rights at London Heathrow that settled around 20 million US dollars of debt, the state decided on privatization.

flyLAL: private, punctual, under pressure (2005–2008)

In 2005, LAL Investicijų Valdymas, a subsidiary of the private flyLAL Group, bought the airline for 27 million litas. Lithuanian Airlines became flyLAL – Lithuanian Airlines. In 2006, the group split its activities among several companies. In the same year, the Swedish airline FlyMe agreed to a gradual stake, starting with a third of the shares – but the plan was never completed, and FlyMe itself went bankrupt in 2007.

Operationally there were definitely successes: in February 2007, flyLAL was named the most punctual airline at London Gatwick Airport. flyLAL had codeshare agreements with airBaltic, Finnair and LOT – how such partnerships work, you can read under Codeshare flights explained. In 2008, the group transferred charter traffic to the sister company flyLAL Charters, which received its operating license for passenger flights in October 2008.

The end (2008–2009)

In 2008, flyLAL got into a hard price war with airBaltic, which had also flown from Vilnius since 2004. On top of that came the global financial crisis. Although passenger numbers rose significantly once more in 2008, the mountain of debt grew. In December 2008, the company cited debts of around 86 million litas (about 26 million euros) and offered the state the majority for a symbolic litas – in return for a state guarantee. The government declined, and an agreed sale to a Swiss holding company also fell through because the promised down payment never arrived.

On January 17, 2009, flyLAL ceased scheduled service, and the Lithuanian aviation authority revoked the license. Another rescue proposal was rejected at the end of January, and insolvency proceedings followed. For Vilnius it was a turning point: according to English-language Wikipedia, the number of direct destinations was halved from 28 to 14. You can read more about similar cases in the overview of major airline collapses in Europe.

The fleet at a glance

The fleet of LAL and flyLAL can be roughly divided into three phases: the Soviet legacy, the Western switch and the last years with 737s and Saab 2000s.

Type	Period (approx.)	Role	Spotter note
Yakovlev Yak-42	from 1991	Three-engine jet from Aeroflot stocks	Largest part of the starting fleet (twelve aircraft)
Tupolev Tu-134	from 1991	Twinjet with rear-mounted engines	Seven aircraft at the start
Antonov An-24 / An-26	from 1991	Turboprops for short routes	Four An-24s and three An-26s
Boeing 737-200	from December 1991	First Western aircraft	Leased, including LY-GPA
Saab 340	from 1996	Regional turboprop	Predecessor of the Saab 2000
Saab 2000	from 1998 to 2009	Fast regional turboprop	Still three aircraft in November 2008
Boeing 737-300	until 2009	Medium-haul	Three aircraft in 2008
Boeing 737-500	until 2009	Backbone of the late fleet	Six aircraft in November 2008
Boeing 757-200	2008 to 2009	Leased for charter	Two aircraft in November 2008

The figures for the last years vary slightly depending on the source and the cutoff date: in December 2007, three 737-300s, five 737-500s and four Saab 2000s are cited, and in November 2008 three 737-300s, six 737-500s, two 757-200s and three Saab 2000s. The manufacturer of the jets was consistently Boeing.

737-300 or 737-500? How to tell them apart on old photos

Both types belong to the so-called Classic generation of the 737 and look confusingly similar at first glance: the same engines with the typical flattened underside, the same cockpit windows, the same paint. The most important difference is length.

The safest way is to cross-check by registration: with the registration, you can find the exact type and often the year of manufacture in databases. How that works is shown in the article How old is this aircraft?.

How to recognize flyLAL

Because flyLAL has not flown since 2009, you can only find it on archive photos – your own or in photo databases. These features help with assigning them:

• Registration LY-: all aircraft carried Lithuania’s nationality mark. An LY- on a 737 from the 1990s or 2000s is a strong indication of LAL.
• Name on the fuselage: until 2005 it said “Lithuanian Airlines,” afterward “flyLAL”. That lets you roughly date a photo.
• Type mix: a Lithuanian 737 next to a Saab 2000 turboprop at the same airport was typical for the late years.
• Soviet types: Yak-42s or Tu-134s with an LY- registration date from the early 1990s, when the airline was still flying with the Aeroflot legacy.

Routes and traces in Germany

flyLAL was mainly a feeder airline: from Vilnius it went to Europe’s big cities. Former destinations included Frankfurt, London Gatwick, Amsterdam, Budapest, Kyiv, Moscow and Tbilisi, plus seasonally Innsbruck, Madrid and Málaga. According to German-language Wikipedia, Paris and Stockholm were also in the network at times.

For spotters in Germany, Frankfurt was therefore the most likely place for a flyLAL sighting. If you have old photos from that time, it’s worth a second look at aircraft with LY- registrations. How to organize your archive so you can find such discoveries again is shown in the article Archiving aircraft photos.

In the Baltics themselves, flyLAL was part of a triangle of national airlines: airBaltic at Riga Airport and Estonian Air in Tallinn. Of the three, only airBaltic has survived to this day – and is now also an established presence in Vilnius.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking flyLAL and Lithuanian Airlines are two airlines – it is the same company, just before and after the privatization in 2005.
• Equating Lietuvos oro linijos (1938) with LAL (1991) – the prewar airline was a company of its own that ended in 1940.
• Taking flyLAL Charters for flyLAL – the charter sister kept flying after 2009 and became Small Planet Airlines.
• Assigning every LY- registration to flyLAL – other Lithuanian airlines also fly with LY-.
• Confusing the 737-300 and 737-500 – the length of the fuselage decides.

Conclusion

flyLAL was the airline with which Lithuania sought to connect with Western Europe after 1991. Within a few years, the Aeroflot legacy of Yak-42s and Tu-134s became a small Western fleet of Boeing 737s and Saab turboprops. In the end, the national airline could not hold its own against big network airlines, the price war with airBaltic and the financial crisis. For spotters, it remains a nice chapter of Baltic aviation history – and a rare find in your own photo archive.