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Airport Vilnius (Lithuanian) - International

Vilnius Airport
Vilniaus oro uostas
IATA: VNO ICAO: EYVI
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Lithuanian government
Operator State Enterprise Tarptautinis Vilniaus oro uostas
Location Vilnius
Hub for
Elevation AMSL 646 ft / 197 m
Coordinates 54°3813N 025°1716E / 54.63694°N 25.28778°E / 54.63694; 25.28778Coordinates: 54°3813N 025°1716E / 54.63694°N 25.28778°E / 54.63694; 25.28778
Website www.vilnius-airport.lt
Map
VNO
Location within Lithuania
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02/20 2,515 8,250 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2012)
Number of Passengers 2,208,096
Aircraft movements 29,995
Source: Lithuanian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

Vilnius Airport (IATA: VNOICAO: EYVI) (Lithuanian: Vilniaus oro uostas) is the largest civil airport in Lithuania. It is located 5.9 km (3.7 mi) south[1] of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It began operations in 1944. The old terminal was built in 1954.

Contents

History

The present-day Vilnius International Airport is a state owned enterprise under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It is the largest of the four major airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic.

Lithuanian Airlines (branded later as FlyLAL) was established as the Lithuanian flag carrier following independence in 1991 and inherited the Vilnius-based Aeroflot fleet of Tupolev Tu-134, Yakovlev Yak-40, Yak-42 and Antonov An-24, An-26 aircraft, but rapidly replaced these Soviet-era aircraft types with modern Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 jets and Saab 340, Saab 2000 turboprops. Operations were suspended effective 17 January 2009 as a result of growing financial difficulties. With the collapse of flyLAL, the airport lost its scheduled services to Amsterdam, Budapest, Istanbul, Madrid and Tbilisi. flyLAL used to operate to Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Milan and Paris in competition with Aer Lingus, airBaltic or Lufthansa.

AirBaltic, the national airline of Latvia and under SAS part-ownership, opened up a second base at Vilnius in 2004 to complement its Riga operation and became the largest carrier at Vilnius, using Boeing 737 jets and Fokker F50 turboprops. At one point, airBaltic operated to 19 destinations from Vilnius but, in 2009, the network covered only three destinations served by two aircraft based at Vilnius.

Another carrier with a base at the airport is Aurela Airlines with a fleet of two Boeing 737 jets, specialising in business charter operations and holiday charter flights to African, Asian, and European resort destinations.

Vilnius International Airport is the main hub for Aurela, Small Planet Airlines, and Aviavilsa and secondary hub for Wizz Air. It used to be a main hub for Star1 Airlines until their end of operations in September 2010. And it used to be a secondary hub for airBaltic, Estonian Air and Skyways Express until they closed the bases in Vilnius.

Today Vilnius Airport is one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe. With one runway (with CAT II certification) and an estimated 2 million passengers a year, Vilnius International Airport is base to Wizz Air and Small Planet airlines, focus city to Ryanair and is served by a number of European regular and low-cost airlines, offering direct and connecting flights to many destinations.

Terminal

The airport is notable for its 1950s arrivals terminal building. It is a standard Soviet airport terminal design, originally intended for an airport with up to 20 aircraft movements per day. On the outside, it is decorated with sculptures of soldiers, workers and aviators, while inside walls and ceilings feature wreaths, bay leaves and stars, and until early 1990s, the Soviet hammer and sickle, typical decor for Soviet public buildings of early post-war years.

In November 2007, the new 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft) terminal building was opened for operations which improved the capacity and facilities of the airport and complies with the requirements of the Schengen agreement. The passenger throughput of the terminal increased, passenger service quality was improved and more stringent aviation security measures were implemented. The new area of the renovated passenger terminal now reaches 37,462 m2 (403,240 sq ft). It is equipped with 6 passenger boarding bridges, modern passenger check-in equipment, travel value & duty free shops were opened as well as business lounge and VIP Lounge.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger
Airlines Destinations
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
airBaltic Riga
Austrian Airlines
operated by Tyrolean Airways
Vienna
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Estonian Air Tallinn
Finnair
operated by Flybe Nordic
Helsinki
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw-Chopin
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Norwegian Air Shuttle Oslo-Gardermoen
Ryanair Barcelona, Bergamo, Bremen, Chania [begins 1 May 2013], Brussels-Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London-Luton [ends 15 May, 2013], London-Stansted, Oslo-Rygge, Paris-Beauvais, Rome-Ciampino, Weeze
Scandinavian Airlines Copenhagen
Scandinavian Airlines
operated by Golden Air
Stockholm-Arlanda
Sun d'Or International Airlines
operated by El Al
Seasonal: Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion [resumes 3 June 2013]
Transaero Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Ataturk [begins 11 June 2013][2]
Ukraine International Airlines Kiev-Boryspil
UTair Aviation Moscow-Vnukovo
UTair-Ukraine Kiev-Zhuliany, Simferopol [begins 1 June 2013]
Wizz Air Ĺlesund [begins 5 June 2013], Barcelona, Bergamo, Bergen, Doncaster-Sheffield, Dortmund, Eindhoven, London-Luton, Paris-Beauvais, Oslo-Torp, Rome-Fiumicino, Stavanger, Trondheim [begins 2 June 2013]
Wizz Air Ukraine Kiev-Zhuliany [begins 5 July 2013][3]
WOW air
operated by Avion Express
Seasonal: Reykjavík [begins 12 June 2013]
Charter
Airlines Destinations
Air Europa Seasonal: Barcelona [begins 31 May 2013]
Air Malta Seasonal: Malta
Aurela Seasonal: Abu Dhabi, Almaty, Antalya, Dubai, Hurghada, Kiev-Boryspil, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Malé, Moscow, Nouadhibou, Riga, Sharm el-Sheikh, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tallinn
Small Planet Airlines Seasonal: Antalya, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Bergamo, Bodrum, Dalaman, Heraklion, Hurghada, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Malaga, Marsa Alam, Monastir, Rhodes, Palma de Mallorca, Salzburg, Sharm el-Sheikh, Simferopol, Taba
SmartLynx Airlines Seasonal: Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Bilbao Airport, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Rijeka, Varna
Cargo
Airlines Destinations
European Air Transport
operated by Cargo Air
Leipzig/Halle, Riga

Statistics

Year Passengers Change Flights
2006 1451468 +13.2% 29347
2007 1717222 +18.3% 32840
2008 2048439 +19.3% 37839
2009 1308632 36.1%
2010 1373859 +4.98% 26106
2011 1712467 +24.7% 27703
2012 2208099 +28.94% 29995
2013 (Jan-Mar) 522623 +33.27% 6911

Busiest airports by passenger traffic in the Baltic States

Country Airport 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
 Latvia Riga Airport 4,767,764 5,106,692 4,663,647 4,066,854 3,690,549 3,160,945 2,495,020 1,878,035 1,060,426 711,753 633,322 622,647
 Lithuania Vilnius Airport 2,208,096 1,712,467 1,373,859 1,308,632 2,048,439 1,717,222 1,451,468 1,281,872 964,164 719,850 634,991 584,171
 Estonia Tallinn Airport 2,206,791 1,913,172 1,384,831 1,346,236 1,811,536 1,728,430 1,541,832 1,401,059 997,941 715,859 605,697 573,493
 Lithuania Kaunas Airport 830,268 872,618 809,732 456,698 410,165 390,881 248,228 77,350 27,113 21,732 19,891 20,137
 Lithuania Palanga Airport 128,169 111,133 102,528 104,600 101,586 93,379 110,828 94,000 76,020 46,666 45,971 45,660

Incidents and accidents

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 2748, operated with Dash-8-400 (LN-RDS) with 48 passengers and 4 crew members, took off from Copenhagen Airport on 12 September 2007. It was heading to Palanga, Lithuania, but was diverted to Vilnius Airport (better suited for an emergency landing) when landing gear problems were discovered before landing. Upon touchdown, the right landing gear collapsed. All passengers and crew were evacuated safely. The local officials at the Vilnius International Airport noted that this was the most serious incident in recent years. This accident, along with the Aalborg accident just days earlier, caused all SAS Dash 8-400 planes to be grounded until the beginning of October.

Airport links

Direct train services between Vilnius Airport Railway Station (referred to as "Oro uostas" in the schedules) and the central station of Vilnius were started in October 2008. Distance from the Airport to the Central Railway Station is 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi), the journey takes 7 minutes. This is the fastest way to reach the Airport from the city center. Trains run daily from 5:45 up to 21:10 The intervals between the services range from 37 minutes during peak time to 1 hour 31 minutes during off-peak hours. One-way ticket costs 2.50 Lt (0.73 Euro).

Buses connect the airport with Vilnius Central Station, Vilnius city centre and ekin (the north of the city).

The direct intercity express services operate from the Airport to Kalaipeda and Riga (via Panevys and Bauska).

Means of transport at Vilnius Airport
Means of transport Operator Route Destination Website Notes
Bus Vilniaus Autobusai 1 Central Station (Lithuanian: Stotis) www.vilniustransport.lt
Vilniaus Autobusai 2 ekin (City North) via City Center www.vilniustransport.lt
TOKS -- Central Station (Lithuanian: Stotis) www.toks.lt
Ollex -- Klaipeda www.ollex.lt
FLYBUS -- Riga www.flybus.lv via Panevys and Bauska
Train Lietuvos Geleinkeliai -- Central Station (Lithuanian: Stotis) www.litrail.lt

References

External links

Media related to Vilnius International Airport at Wikimedia Commons


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