On Thursday evening, the landing and takeoff of aircraft at Vilnius airport was temporarily suspended again due to approaching weather balloons heading towards the airport, which are typically used by Belarusian cigarette smugglers, LETA reports citing LRT.
After the suspension of air traffic at Vilnius airport on Thursday evening at 20:10, it was resumed at 22:43.
These temporary restrictions affected both incoming and outgoing flights, and some of them were canceled.
"Twenty flights and over 2000 passengers were affected. In total, four flights were canceled at Vilnius airport, four were redirected, and 12 flights were delayed. Due to the closure of airspace, passengers, airlines, and the airport lost hundreds of thousands of euros," the airport reported.
It is also noted that there may be individual flight delays throughout the day due to crew scheduling disruptions and aircraft rotations.
In light of the recent increase in the number of smuggled balloons launched from Belarusian territory, which disrupted operations at Vilnius airport, the Lithuanian government decided on Wednesday to close the border with Belarus until November 30, with exceptions for certain categories of travelers.
According to the government decision, the last two functioning border checkpoints on the border with Belarus — in Medininkai and Šalčininkai — will be closed for a month. Both checkpoints were closed on Sunday evening when a large number of smuggled balloons flew into Lithuania from Belarus again.
At the Šalčininkai checkpoint, border crossing will be completely halted, while operations at Medininkai will be restricted, with exceptions for certain categories of individuals who will be allowed to cross the border at this location.
