Since Sunday evening, takeoffs and landings at Vilnius Airport have been temporarily suspended again due to meteorological balloons heading towards the airport, which are typically used by Belarusian cigarette smugglers, LETA reports citing LRT.
Initially, the operator of Lithuanian airports "Lietuvos oro uostai" announced that air traffic at Vilnius Airport would be suspended from 21:42 to 1:40. Later, the break was extended to 3:40, and then to 5:40.
Arriving flights are being redirected to Kaunas, Riga, and Warsaw.
The State Border Guard Service of Lithuania reported that in response to the launch of balloons, both border crossing points with Belarus were closed.
The Medininkai and Šalčininkai border points were closed from 22:10.
Thus, last week, air traffic at Vilnius Airport was suspended four times due to smuggler balloons, and in total, five times in October. On the night from Friday to Saturday, takeoffs and landings were also interrupted at Kaunas Airport for the same reason.
In connection with these incidents, the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida Šimonytė, convened a meeting of the National Security Council for Monday to discuss possible long-term measures to resolve the crisis. She did not rule out that a decision could be made on Monday regarding a longer closure of the Medininkai and Šalčininkai border points.
For its part, the office of President Gitanas Nausėda stated that the issue of restricting transit to the Kaliningrad region and a longer closure of the border with Belarus may be considered.
