The airport’s operator said that Lithuania will open its largest and busiest Vilnius airport to air traffic early on Sunday, after a few hours of flight cancellations and diversions due to balloons that might be in its airspace.
Incidents of drones in recent weeks and air incursions around airports, such as Copenhagen and Munich, have cast European aviation into chaos more than once.
In a statement on Facebook, the operator stated that Vilnius Air traffic was resumed at 4:50 a.m. Sunday (9:50 pm ET, Saturday), when a decision was made at the end of the day on Saturday to close the airspace “due to a possible series of balloons heading toward Vilnius Airport.”
Diversion of flights towards Latina and Poland
According to Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT, the head of National Crisis Management said late Saturday that 13 balloons were flying toward Vilnius Airport.
Notices posted to the US Federal Aviation Administration official website stated that the flight restrictions were because of “hot air balloon flights.”
Vilnius Airport said the closure affected several overnight flights, with most incoming planes diverted to Latvia and Poland, and departures cancelled. A flight set for Copenhagen turned back to Denmark.
NATO-member Lithuania announced a no-fly zone 90km (60 miles) in August along the border with Belarus in response to the incursion of drones across its airspace by Belarus, stating that such a measure would permit its armed forces to take action against any violations.
Lithuania, a fierce ally of Ukraine, has a 679-km (422-mile) border with Belarus, a firm Russian ally. The capital Vilnius is approximately 30 km (18.6 miles) from the border.
