OREANDA-NEWS. December 10, 2009. Vilnius International Airport (VIA) has served 95.771 passengers during November. This year, within 11 months, a total of 1,218mln passengers were served, reported the press-centre of Vilnius International Airport.

”22 per cent less passengers were serviced in November compared to the same period last year; however, generalized numbers for this year indicate that the conditions had already been stabilized“, - says Tomas Vaisvila, the Managing Director of VIA.

According to Mr. T.Vaisvila, compared to the successful year 2008, the stagnation can still be perceived; on the other hand – the upturn tendencies are obvious already.

„This year, the greatest slump in respect of the number of passengers was noticed in March, when the airport served 43 per cent less passengers compared to the same period last year. However, since the end of spring, the number of passengers served by VIA was definitely increasing“, - the Manager of the Airport says.

This year, the largest Airport in the country is planning to serve more than 1,3mln passengers.

„With the number of direct flight routes fr om Vilnius to other European cities increasing, the passenger flows should already increase in the forthcoming months. Next year, we anticipate an annual upturn of passenger flow of 25 per cent“, - the Manager of VIA assures.

At the moment, a total of 15 airlines have flights from Vilnius based on regular routes. These Airlines offer their passengers 16 direct routes in total. Since the middle of December, 4 more new routes will be added from Vilnius (to Berlin, Munich, Paris, Tbilisi), wh ereas since January next year – two more routes will be added (to Amsterdam and Rome). From the beginning of next year, 22 direct flights shall be available in total.

Last year, VIA had a total of 28 flights on regular routes available. Last year, in addition to the current regular flights to the largest European cities, one could fly also to Simferopol, Vaxjo, Kishinev, Dusseldorf, Thessaloniki and Odes.

„One can see in the map of flights of the Airport that all main routes to the most important and largest European cities are restored. Next year, we shall develop flights towards Southern and Eastern Europe“, - Mr. T.Vaisvila says.