{"id":165029,"date":"2025-11-20T22:02:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/165029\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"air-traffic-suspended-over-vilnius-airport-as-new-air-balloons-spotted","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/165029\/","title":{"rendered":"Air traffic suspended over Vilnius Airport as new air balloons spotted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 20, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Vilnius Airport suspended air traffic at 6:38 p.m. on November 20 after services detected weather balloons, Delfi<\/em> reported, citing the National Crisis Management Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the first time the airport halted operations since Lithuania reopened the Medininkai\u2013Kamienny \u0141oh and \u0160al\u010dininkai\u2013Bieniakoni border crossings on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border at midnight (1 a.m. Minsk time) earlier the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania had originally planned to keep all border crossings closed from October 29 to November 30 in response to repeated airspace violations involving balloons launched from Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions between Belarus and Lithuania escalated in mid-October due to cigarette-smuggling balloons, prompting Lithuanian authorities to temporarily close the border several times and suspend operations at Vilnius Airport, which is located close to the Belarusian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania\u2019s Prime Minister, Inga Ruginien\u0117, said earlier this week that border guards had recorded fewer incursions involving weather balloons used for cigarette smuggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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