Nida

55°19'39.57"N 21°02'40.72"E

runway: 08/26 - 815x30m/2674x100ft - asphalt

Air field Nida (Lithuanian: Nidos aerodromo, ICAO: EYND) is an airfield on the coast of Lithuania, known as the Curonian Spit (Lithuanian: Kuršių Nerija, Russian: Куршская коса, German: Kurische Nehrung) - a peninsula with sand dunes , which divides the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea.
The airfield was built in 1967. Between 1970 and 1975 Nida had direct scheduled flights to Palanga, Kaunas and Vilnius by An-2 'Colt'. At the time it had a small lightly built station building, but after 1972 it stopped seeing use.

After independence in 1992, the Neringa city board handed the airport with all equipment over to the Neringa department of Education, Culture and Sports. In 1994 the Lithuanian Government approved the Curonian National Park's detailed plan to adapt the airport for general aviation flights. On 1 July 1998 the Government acknowledged the need for improvements and granted a 5.6mio litai ( € 1.6mio) state loan. The first stage was to expand the 600m runway by a total of 215m on both ends. A 4 meter wide drainage system was installed on both sides of the runway against rainwater.
The second phase was to extend the runway to 1200m, to allow Saab340, Saab2000 or Antonov24-sized aircraft on the field, but after environmentalists protested over alledged disturbances to birds, the plan was abandoned. Klaipeda county then proceeded to deny any further plans for the airfield by witholding funds and the work was stopped.

Because all work on the airfield was halted, some necessary work to get the aifield certified couldnot be carried out. Cutting back of trees and shrubs, the installation of storm water drainage and putting up fences (for safety) can be done at a relatively minor investment, but are prohibited by the county.
As a result the Lithuanian Civil Aviation Authority would not grant the airfield an airworthiness certificate for fixed wing operators. In 2001 a Kaunas Flying Club pilot tried to land his 1971 Socata ST-10 at the airfield but it ran off the runway with 4 passengers. The wreck remained on the side of the runway for years. As a result only helicopters were allowed to use the airfield for a long time. Nevertheless, the airfield was still occasionally (and illegally) used by fixed winged aircraft.
In July 2009 businessman Tadas Karosas's Cirrus SR22 crashed at the airfield.
The airfield remained completely intact, but was mostly used by tourists to ride bicycles until the rebuilt was finally completed in teh Spring of 2016. The airfield was officially reopened on 16 June 2016. It lacks any refuelling facilities though and is officially assigned the airport code A129.


view down runway 08 with the damaged Cirrus still on the edge of the runway in 2009 (Wikipedia)


Cirrus SR22 'LY-WWW' after its unfortunate accident at Nida


This photo, taken in April 2011, illustrates why the airfield was still not usable only 10 years after completion: trees are standing too close to the runway