Vilnius Airport resumes operations after temporary shutdown
November 20, Pozirk. Air traffic at Vilnius Airport was suspended for roughly two hours on November 20 after authorities detected weather balloons in the area.
Operations at the airport have since resumed.
Flights arriving from Warsaw and Helsinki were cancelled, while incoming flights from Istanbul and Stockholm were delayed by about two hours.
This was the first time Vilnius Airport halted operations since Lithuania reopened the Medininkai–Kamienny Łoh and Šalčininkai–Bieniakoni border crossings on the Lithuanian–Belarusian border at midnight (1 a.m. Minsk time) earlier the same day.
Lithuania had initially planned to keep all border crossings closed from October 29 to November 30 in response to repeated airspace violations involving balloons launched from Belarus.
Tensions between Belarus and Lithuania escalated in mid-October due to cigarette-smuggling balloons, prompting Lithuanian authorities to temporarily close the border on several occasions and suspend operations at Vilnius Airport, which lies close to the Belarusian border.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said earlier this week that border guards had recorded fewer incursions involving weather balloons used for cigarette smuggling.
Air traffic suspended over Vilnius Airport as new air balloons spotted
- PoliticsBelarus’ top diplomat, Serbia's envoy reaffirm commitment to dialogueThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyPoland arrests Belarusian in $813,000 cigarette smuggling caseThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, SocietyLabor productivity rises 1.1 percent, real pay 7.5 percent in H1The material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- Politics, SecurityBelarus launches 17-day air defense drillThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- PoliticsŁukašenka announces upcoming meeting with PutinThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsCichanoŭskaja plays up value of independence in anniversary messageThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy
- PoliticsZelensky to Cichanoŭskaja: Europe cannot afford to lose any nation seeking real independenceThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietyNew “extremist” designations, politically motivated arrest reported in BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyBiełstat: pre-tax monthly pay up 2.2 percent in JulyThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsŁukašenka orders coins to commemorate All-Belarusian People’s AssemblyThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyCentral bank cuts estimated values of standard riskThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyBelarus to raise labor pensions on September 1The material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityUkraine, Russia release 10 return prisoners each in BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society
- SecurityBelarus testing artillery, command-chain readiness using lessons from Ukraine, IranThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyŁukašenka notes plunge in trade with Russia's Arkhangelsk provinceThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, SocietyLithuania intercepts two drones carrying Belarusian cigarettesThe material is available only to POZIRK+



