Vilnius airport was closed all night because of balloons from Belarus

From Friday evening to Saturday morning, Vilnius Airport did not receive or depart planes because of balloons launched from Belarus. This was reported by the media LRT with reference to the Lithuanian Airport Authority.

The temporary suspension of Vilnius Airport affected more than 3,000 passengers and 22 flights.

The airspace restrictions were lifted around 07:03 on November 29.

Due to the airspace restrictions, three flights were canceled, nine flights were diverted to Kaunas and Riga airports, and the departure and arrival times of 10 flights were adjusted.

Initially, it was announced that airspace restrictions would be imposed until 02:15 am on Saturday, and later this time was extended several times.

According to initial information, the airport was suspended due to the detection of navigational markings typical of weather balloons moving towards the airport.

The head of the National Crisis Management Center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, said on Saturday that over the past 24 hours, exceptional activity of smuggled balloons launched from Belarus was recorded in Lithuanian airspace.

According to preliminary information, more than 60 marks were recorded.

• On November 17, Lithuania hosted the large-scale operation against smuggling with balloons. Law enforcement officers detained four people.
• Lithuania said that the night of November 24 was the "most tense" due to attack with smuggled bullets – They have already been noticed in Latvia.