Hot air balloons again close Vilnius airport

Aircraft traffic at Vilnius Airport was temporarily suspended on October 26 at 9:42 p.m.

According to preliminary reports, the decision to restrict airspace was caused by a balloon flight towards Vilnius Airport.

Airspace restrictions lasted until 05:40 on Monday, October 27.

According to the Lithuanian publication LRT, some flights are directed to Kaunas and Riga.

A few hours before the incident with the balloons and the closure of the airport, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the country should consider restricting transit to Kaliningrad and long-term closing the border with Belarus precisely because of the balloons.

The President views the incidents of recent days and the disruptions to the airport as a hybrid attack against Lithuania, which must be responded to both symmetrically and asymmetrically.

Last week, Lithuanian air traffic was disrupted three times due to smuggled balloons.