OREANDA-NEWS. October 12, 2010. 1.092 million passengers were serviced at Vilnius International Airport (VIA) during the first three quarters of this year, which is by 9 per cent more in comparison with the same period last year. The number of flights and cargo flows also increased significantly during this period, reported the press-centre of VIA.

The number of flights at the airport during the first nine months of this year grew by 19 per cent to 20,208 in comparison with the same period last year, which means that there were on the average 75 flights at the airport per day. During this period, the quantity of transported cargoes grew to 3,773 tonnes.

This September, in comparison with September of last year, passenger flows rose by 3 per cent (129,768 passengers in total). In addition, the number of flights (2,164 per month) and quantity of cargoes (459 t) grew respectively by 7 and 22 per cent.

“The growth of the passenger flow observed at VIA slowed in September because of the end of the summer, when the main holiday season is coming to an end. The typical airport client has changed too. Instead of holidaymakers going to southern countries or Lithuanian people coming from abroad to visit their homeland we can observe more people going on business trips,” the Managing Director of VIA Tomas Vaisvila says.

Moreover, according to Mr. Vaisvila, cancelled Star1 Airlines flights in September and the decision of airBaltic to terminate flights to London and Dublin had a negative impact on the passenger flows and changes in flights. According to the Manager of the airport, more new and different flights are planned for the winter season, which will start at the end of October.

This year, passenger flows to Riga, Helsinki, Kiev, Tallinn, Warsaw and Brussels have been growing the most.

According to the results of the first nine months, VIA takes the second place among the airports of the Baltic states. It is one step behind Riga (3.588 million passengers), while Tallinn with 1.043 million passengers remains at the third place.