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Airport Vilnius (Lithuanian) - International

Vilnius International Airport
Tarptautinis Vilniaus oro uostas

IATA: VNO ICAO: EYVI
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Ministry of Transport and Communications
Location Vilnius, Lithuania
Elevation AMSL 646 ft / 197 m
Coordinates 54°3803N 25°1709E / 54.63417, 25.28583
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
02/20 8,251 2,515 Asphalt


Vilnius International Airport (IATA: VNO, ICAO: EYVI) (Lithuanian: Tarptautinis Vilniaus Oro Uostas) is the largest civil airport in Lithuania. It is located 7km south of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It began operations in 1944, the old terminal was built in 1954.

Contents

Policy

Vilnius International Airport is a state owned company, established by the Lithuanian Ministry of Transportation in 1991. airBaltic had most passengers from the airport in 2006, followed by flyLal, the national airline of Lithuania. It also serves flights of SAS, Lufthansa, Finnair, Aeroflot, Austrian Airlines, Czech Airlines, LOT, and some other regional airlines.

Vilnius International Airport is a fast growing airport that receives over one million passengers per year (1.717.222 in 2007). It is the largest of the four major airports in Lithuania: Kaunas International Airport (also known as Karmlava Airport) in Kaunas, iauliai International Airport in iauliai (also known as Zokniai Airport, formerly one of the largest military airports in Europe, now services NATO and freight flights), and Palanga International Airport in Palanga.

Annual passenger statistics for Vilnius Airport
Year Total Passengers (in thousands)
1992 20
1993 200
1994 352
1995 355
1996 537
1997 879
1998 989
1999 708
2000 529
2001 171
2002 991
2003 850
2004 964
2005 872
2006 1 000
2007 7 222

Baltic's busiest airports by passenger traffic
Rank City Airport Passengers (2007)
1. Riga Riga International Airport 3 160 954
2. Tallinn Tallinn Airport 1 728 430
3. Vilnius Vilnius International Airport 1 717 222
4. Kaunas Kaunas International Airport 391 000
5. Palanga Palanga International Airport 93 379

Airlines and destinations

Lithuanian Airlines (nowadays marketed as flyLal) was established as the major Lithuanian airline following independence in 1991 and inherited the Vilnius-based Aeroflot fleet of Tupolev's Tu -134 , Yakovlev's Yak - 40/42 and Antonov - 24/26, but rapidly replaced these and now has Boeing 737, 757 jets and Saab 2000 turboprops. Air Baltic, the national airline of Latvia and under SAS ownership, opened up a second base at Vilnius to complement their Riga operation and has become the second largest carrier at the airport now, using Boeing 737 jets and Fokker F50 turboprops. The third carrier with a base here is Aurela Airlines with two Boeing 737 and two Boeing 757 jets, who specialise in holiday and business charter flights to the Asia, Black Sea and Mediterranean resorts.

Regular flights

Charter flights

Terminal Buildings

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, typical decor for Soviet public buildings of early post-war years.

In November 2007, the new 17,000 sq.m terminal building was opened for operations which improved the capacity and facilities of the airport and complies with the requirements of the Schengen agreement.

Incidents and accidents


Scandinavian Airlines Flight 2748, a de Havilland Canada Dash-8-400 (LN-RDS) with 48 passengers and 4 crew members, took off from Copenhagen Airport, Denmark, on September 12, 2007. It was headed 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.

Ground transportation

Trains

Direct train services between Vilnius Airport Railway Station and the central station started operating in October 2008. The journey takes 7 min. One way ticket costs 2 LTL (0,58 EUR). Going by train is the fastest way get from the airport to the city. Vilnius airport is the only airport in Baltic states which has rail connection.

Buses

Bus line no. 1 - Vilnius Airport Vilnius Central Station
Bus line no. 2 - Vilnius airport - City Center - ekin (The north of the city)
Regular price for all routes is 1,10 Lt (0,32 Eur), from driver 1,40 Lt (0,41 Eur).

External links

This article based on this article: Vilnius_International_Airportexternal Link from the free encyclopedia Wikipediaexternal Link and work with the GNU Free Documentation License. In Wikipedia is this list of the authorsexternal Link.