Mediniai Airstrip

The closure was due to economic reasons and obsolescence. The airstrip was built specifically for agricultural aviation to serve Soviet-era collective farms. After Lithuania regained independence and the collective farm system was dismantled, the large-scale demand for aerial crop-dusting and fertilizing services disappeared. The airfield became economically unviable to maintain for the diminished, privatized agricultural sector.

The site is completely abandoned and in a state of advanced decay. Satellite imagery clearly shows the single 400-meter asphalt runway, but it is severely cracked, weathered, and overgrown with grass and weeds, rendering it unusable for any type of aircraft. The surrounding area is composed of active agricultural fields, and the derelict runway is the only remaining evidence of the former airstrip.

Mediniai Airstrip was a key piece of local infrastructure during the Soviet period. Its sole purpose was to support agricultural operations for the surrounding collective farms ('kolkhoz'). It primarily handled utility aircraft, most notably the Antonov An-2 biplane, which was the standard vehicle for aerial application (crop-dusting, seeding, and fertilizing) across the USSR. The airstrip was part of a dense network of similar small airfields that were essential to the highly mechanized Soviet agricultural model.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Mediniai Airstrip. The cost to restore the runway and associated infrastructure would be substantial. Given the lack of any modern demand for an airfield in this specific rural location for general, commercial, or military aviation, its revival is considered extremely unlikely. The airstrip is effectively a permanent relic of a past economic and political system.