OREANDA-NEWS. May 15, 2012. Vilnius International Airport (VIA) continues to show a steady upward trend in passenger numbers: in April 2012 the passenger traffic soared by 39.4% compared to the same period last year, reported the press-centre of Vilnius International Airport.  

In April the passenger volume amounted to 159.2 thousand passengers; the number of flights equalled to 2,515 flights, showing a 17.6% increase. In the fourth month of this year, the most popular destinations among passengers were Frankfurt, Riga, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Helsinki and other cities. The preferred airlines among passengers were airBaltic, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air, Ryanair and Small Planet Airlines.

A holiday rhythm could already be sensed in the middle of spring. The seat occupancy on the regular flights to resort destinations, such as Barcelona, Paris, Rome, skyrocketed to 80% and more in April. Irregular flights – to Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife and elsewhere – were rather active as well. Their total number equalled to 270 flights. The resort of Antalya was especially popular, with the number of tourists amounting to a nearly half of all the passengers on irregular flights.

The average 55.9% passenger growth rate was achieved in January – April of this year. In four months of this year, the airport handled 551.3 thousand passengers, in contrast to 353.7 thousand passengers in the same period in 2011.

31 European cities in 36 airports will be reached from Vilnius Airport during this summer season. 40 direct regular flights will be operated from the capital of Lithuania. 21 airlines will offer regular flights during the summer season.