For the first time in the country’s history, Vilnius Airport has surpassed Riga Airport in monthly passenger numbers. “More passengers boarded and disembarked at Vilnius Airport than at Riga Airport in May. A milestone we hardly dared expect to reach three years ago,” Simonas Bartkus, chief executive of Lithuanian Airports, wrote on Facebook. Excluding transit…
Lithuania will purchase 936 Patria armoured vehicles from Finland under a decision approved by the State Defence Council on May 27. President Gitanas Nauseda said 300 of the vehicles were expected to be acquired until 2030. He added that one of Lithuania’s requirements was for part of the production process to take place inside the…
Lithuania’s State Security Department has warned that proposals to resume the transit of Belarusian fertilisers through the port of Klaipeda would effectively circumvent European Union sanctions without reducing security threats posed by Minsk. “This would bypass sanctions, but not the threats,” State Security Department director Remigijus Bridikis said on May 26. “The regime is what…
Direct scheduled flights between Vilnius and Tel Aviv resumed on May 14 after a suspension by airlines due to the conflict in the Middle East. Israeli carrier Israir resumed direct services between the two cities on the evening of May 14. Flights will operate three times a week during the summer aviation season, according to…
Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said the US was pressuring Lithuania to allow the transit of Belarusian fertilisers through its territory, according to remarks made in a closed-door meeting with the Social Democratic faction. Several Social Democrats who attended the meeting confirmed the information on condition of anonymity. According to them, Budrys specifically used the word…
The Latvian airline airBaltic has cancelled its planned summer season flights between Vilnius and Krakow, citing rising fuel prices and commercial considerations, the head of Lithuanian Airports reports. “Yes, we have this information,” Lithuanian Airports CEO Simonas Bartkus told reporters, adding that the seasonal route had been scheduled to launch in June but would no…
Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said on May 11 that neither the government’s nor the municipality’s financial commitments to the long-delayed national stadium project would increase, rejecting suggestions that the Education, Science and Sports Ministry was seeking to reduce its contribution. “That is not true,” Benkunskas told reporters when asked whether negotiations were underway to cut…