History - After war

After the World War II the civil aviation got regulated by the Latvian Civil Aviation Administration, which was under the Soviet Union Civil Aviation Ministry. As first, the flights to Moscow, Tallinn, Kaunas, Liepaja and Daugavpils resumed. Later Riga Central Airport became an All-Union significance airport. Passenger traffic from Riga did not depart just from Spilve, but also from Rumbula airport. Flights used aircraft such as Li-2, from 1959 also Jak-12, An-2, Il-14. In May 1954 a new Soviet neoclassical style terminal building (architect S. Vorobjov) in Riga Central Airport was completed. By the 1975 airport Spilve was one of the largest airports in the western USSR, capable of receiving more than 50 airplanes simultaneously. After the new Riga airport construction Spilve Airport lost its importance, and until 1986 was used only for domestic flights. Up till the end of 1980-ies the airport was used for the training needs of Riga Civil Aviation Institute students.