Vilnius Airport: Difference between revisions

Vilnius Airport Vilniaus oro uostas
File:Logo en vno.jpg
IATA: VNO ICAO: EYVI
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Lithuanian government
Operator	State Enterprise Tarptautinis Vilniaus oro uostas
Location	Vilnius
Hub for	Aurela Aviavilsa Small Planet Airlines Wizz Air Air Lituanica
Elevation AMSL	646 ft / 197 m
Website	www.vilnius-airport.lt
Map
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

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

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, new 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
Air Lituanica	Amsterdam [begins 8 July 2013], Brussels [begins 30 June 2013]
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Vienna
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
El Al	Seasonal: Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion [resumes 3 June 2013]
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, Brussels-Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London-Stansted, Oslo-Rygge, Paris-Beauvais, Rome-Ciampino, Weeze
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen
Scandinavian Airlines operated by Golden Air	Stockholm-Arlanda
Transaero Airlines	Moscow-Domodedovo
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Ataturk [begins 11 June 2013]
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil
UTair Aviation	Moscow-Vnukovo
UTair-Ukraine	Kiev-Zhuliany (ends 18 May 2013
Wizz Air	Ålesund [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]
WOW air	Seasonal: Reykjavík [begins 5 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

Expanded passenger terminal

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-Apr)	727368	+31.93%	9554

Incidents and accidents

SAS Dash-8-400 after crash-landing in Vilnius airport

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

Vilnius airport railway station

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).

The bus connecting Vilnius airport to the Vilnius City Center.

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

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

External links

{{{inline}}}

Media related to Vilnius International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• List of flight operators serving Lithuania