OREANDA-NEWS. May 02, 2012. With a mission of continuous expansion of the geography of direct routes, Lithuanian international airports announce the record-breaking summer season this year. The already-launched aviation season will offer the communication with the total of nearly 70 European airports by means of regular and irregular direct flights from Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga. Regular flights will be operated by 24 airlines.

The changes in the three international airports show that the air communication with Lithuania in the upcoming summer will be as good as it has never been before. The record of the supply of available flights broken last year will be significantly surpassed, while the number of cabin seats for passengers will grow by some one-fifth compared to 2011.

This season five new airlines will commence their operation and eleven new routes will be launched in Vilnius International Airport alone. 31 European cities in 36 airports will be reached by regular flights from the capital directly. 21 airlines in total will operate regular flights to this airport during the summer season. Traditional and new summer holiday routes, such as Portugal, will be available from Vilnius.

The summer season of Kaunas International Airport is also going to be record-breaking, with the most intensive flight schedule throughout the entire history of the airport. Apart from a number of European cities, which could already be reached directly to this day, travellers will be free to choose new summer routes – Palma de Mallorca, Cyprus, Malta and Reykjavik. Four airlines based in this airport will operate flights to 23 European airports.  

Palanga International Airport will offer four routes – to Copenhagen, Oslo, Riga and Moscow. The latter destination will be launched in June. Four airlines in total will operate regular flights.

“We are hoping to break a new record of the number of passengers handled at Lithuanian airports this year. Air passenger traffic has shown an upward trend since the beginning of the year. In the first quarter this year, Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga airports handled 624.7 thousand passengers, which is nearly 30% more than the respective period last year,” Minister of Transport and Communications Eligijus Masiulis said.

The airport of the capital shows an extraordinary growth – compared to the previous year, the passenger numbers boosted by nearly 64% during the first quarter of the year.  Due to the results of the recent months, Vilnius International Airport is among the European airports with the fastest growth in passenger traffic.

The highest number of passengers handled by the airports in the history of Lithuania was recorded last year, when the results of the pre-crisis 2008 were surpassed. Nearly 2.7 million passengers were handled at the international airports last year – it makes 18.1% more compared to 2010 and 5.7% more compared to 2008.

The press release was prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania.