Turku Airport was Finland's first civilian airport when it was built in Artukainen in 1935, but already in the 1920s there was a water airport on Ruissalo Island. Artukainen served as a main airport of Turku until the new airport was built in the municipality of Rusko in 1955. The location became part of Turku in 1957. A new terminal building was opened in 1978. The runway was upgraded to 2500 m in 1980. An air cargo terminal was opened in 1991 as well as an air cargo plate. Terminal 1 was renovated and enlarged in 1999. In the 1990s, Lufthansa CityLine operated flights to Hamburg and ELK Airways to Tallinn. Among normal operation the airport offers differentiated service specifically designed for low-cost airlines since 2008. A second cargo terminal was opened in 2003 and a second passenger terminal for low-cost airlines in 2008. Wizz Air launched flights to Turku in April 2008 and AirBaltic in July 2009. Wingo xprs operated flights to Stockholm-Bromma in spring 2009 and Jet Air to Gda?sk in 2009–2010. Norwegian Air Shuttle flew to Stockholm-Arlanda and Flybe Nordic to Tallinn during the winter season 2011–2012. Ryanair operated flights to Brussels-Charleroi, London-Stansted, Málaga and Barcelona-Girona only during the summer season 2012. According to Ryanair the period was very successful but they could not tolerate the raised airport costs of Finavia and promised to return all routes as soon as the price raise would be withdrawn. During the Ryanair's stay there was a 27% growth on passenger statistics. Turku Airport was closed partially in July 2014 for the renovation of the runway and taxiways. Terminal 1 and the passenger apron were also renovated; Finavia budgeted 14 million euros for the renovations and improvements. However, Scandinavian Airlines flights to Copenhagen, one of the most important destinations operated since 2006, were discontinued after the renovations. This had an immediate impact in passenger volumes. Terminal 2 was closed and its passenger services migrated to the main terminal due to an oil leakage clean up of a spare power unit in autumn 2014. In June 2015 Finavia announced that the low-cost terminal would be completely demolished and the low-cost concept would be continued in the first floor of main terminal in new premises. In March 2023, Finnair announced the termination of flights between Turku and Helsinki Airport in favor of a coach service due to low demand and the short distance.