OREANDA-NEWS. This May, a few weeks earlier than last year, Vilnius Airport welcomed its one millionth passenger. A comparison of the results of the first quarters shows a 16% increase in the number of passengers at Vilnius Airport within a year.

As estimated by international route development organisation Routesonline, the fastest growing gateway in Eastern Europe between 2010 and 2014 was Vilnius International Airport of Lithuania. In 2014 it served 2.9 million passengers, and this number is expected to grow even more this year.

“Every year our airport reaches one million passengers increasingly earlier. It is a huge achievement of the airport and its partners as well as a commitment not to stop and grow even faster,” says Art?ras Stankevi?ius, Director of Vilnius Airport.

To manage the increasing number of passengers, Vilnius Airport is implementing various innovations, one of which is a queue management information system, similar to the ones used by major airports in the USA. The system facilitates time planning for passengers who are waiting for aviation safety inspection. The fast track area has also been recently renovated and moved to a more passenger-friendly location.

Moreover, self-service check-in kiosks have been launched in the departure hall. They simplify the process and reduce time for passengers before their departure by eliminating long queues and speeding up the obtaining of travel documents. Currently passengers can check-in by themselves to flights operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Turkish Airlines. Later on this innovation will be joined by other airlines, too.

For the convenience of passengers waiting for their departure, FilmBox LT, a cinema for Lithuanian short feature films, opened its doors this May. Passengers can also enjoy good music in the terminal, broadcast by a local radio station.