At Vilnius Airport, where air traffic was suspended last night due to balloons used by Belarusian cigarette smugglers, flights resumed on Monday morning, LETA reports, citing LRT.
Traffic at the airport resumed at 4:30 AM, representatives of the capital's airport in Lithuania reported.
As previously reported, flights were suspended on Sunday at 9:42 PM due to weather balloons heading towards the airport, which are typically used by Belarusian cigarette smugglers.
Thirteen flights were canceled, twenty were delayed, and fourteen incoming flights were redirected to the airports in Kaunas, Riga, and Warsaw.
The travel plans of about 7,000 passengers were disrupted.
The State Border Guard Service of Lithuania reported that both border crossing points with Belarus were closed in response to the launch of the balloons.
The Medininkai and Šalčininkai border points were closed from 10:10 PM.
Thus, last week, air traffic at Vilnius Airport was suspended four times due to smuggling balloons, and in total, five times in October. On the night from Friday to Saturday, the arrival and departure of planes were also suspended at Kaunas Airport for the same reason.
In connection with these incidents, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė convened a meeting of the National Security Council for Monday to discuss possible long-term measures to address the crisis. She did not rule out that a decision could be made on Monday regarding a more prolonged closure of the Medininkai and Šalčininkai border crossing points.
Meanwhile, the office of President Gitanas Nausėda indicated that the issue of restricting transit to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (Karaļaučiai) and a longer closure of the border with Belarus could be considered.
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