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Sep 21, 2023 (newstodate): The Latvian carrier airBaltic may rest assured of its key role in serving the neighboring market Lithuania with air connectivity.
   At last week's Riga Aviation Forum, the issue of a national airline to served Lithuania was briefly aired - and emphatically shot down..
   -New scheduled national airline in Lithuania? Absolutely no plans, said Orijana Masala, CAVIA Chairman of the Board.
   However, the setup of an airline to service Lithuania has emerged repeatedly since the demise of the latest attempt, Air Lituanica that ceased all flights from May 22, 2015, after a rather brief life in the air with its first commercial flight on June 30, 2013.
   Earlier, its predecessor flyLAL also folded its wings in bankruptcy on January 17, 2009.
   As late as autumn 2020, Lithuania's Minister of Transportation repeatedly aired intentions for establishing a new state-owned virtual airline to start services already before the end of the year in cooperation with an existing airline providing flight operations and fleet.
   According to a release, the aim was to make Lithuania "independent of foreign air carriers' constantly changing strategies", and to reduce the country's reliance on foreign airlines.
   Also repeatedly appearing in the news have been ambitions for setting up a "pan-Baltic" airline - which never came close to reality..