Lithuania's Vilnius airport closes again due to balloons

Lithuania's Vilnius airport closes again due to balloons
Flightradar24

Vilnius airport briefly halted night-time operations after balloons drifted towards its airspace, forcing several flights to divert.

Lithuania’s main airport said it stopped operations late on Sunday as balloons were detected moving toward Vilnius, prompting incoming flights to switch to other cities. The airport announced on its website that it planned to reopen at 1.30 am local time.

The incident adds to a series of recent disruptions across Europe, where airports from Copenhagen to Brussels have faced shutdowns over drone or aerial incursions. For Vilnius, this marked the ninth closure since early October.

Lithuanian officials say the balloons are weather-type devices used by smugglers moving contraband cigarettes across the Belarus border. Vilnius accuses President Alexander Lukashenko’s government of enabling the practice and labels it a "hybrid attack".

The country temporarily shut both border crossings with Belarus last month in response, reopening them earlier this week after several days without disruptions.

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