Did you know? Lithuania's first civil air line opened in 1938, flying to Palanga with planes bought in England

Lithuania's own civil air service began on 5 September 1938, when the first air line of Lithuanian civil aviation opened with two flights to Palanga. That same year, the Air Communications Inspection of the Ministry of Transport and Communications had ordered two five-seat Percival Q6 aircraft in England, according to the history published by Lithuania's Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The operation was small but busy for its size. During 1938 and 1939, 216 flights carried 764 passengers, together with 3,546 kg of luggage and 3,476 kg of mail and parcels. Regular flights on the Kaunas–Palanga route were renewed in 1939.

Before that, international air travel reached Lithuania through Kaunas's Aleksotas airport, served by the Soviet-German company Deruluft. After 1944, Lithuanian air transport was subordinated to the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation and flights abroad were prohibited. The ministry records that the first western aircraft, a Boeing 737-200 with 105 seats leased from Ireland's GPA, landed in Vilnius in December 1991.

The ministry's account shows that Palanga has been part of Lithuania's air map since the country's very first domestic service. Travellers planning a trip today should check current routes and timetables with the airports and airlines, since the services described in this history are not today's schedule.