OREANDA-NEWS. After the first six months of 2015 Lithuanian airports record the growth in passenger numbers in Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga by over 10% compared to the same period in 2014. During six months the three air gateways handled over 1.9 million passengers. At this time last year the passenger traffic amounted to 1.7 million.

Over six months Vilnius Airport serviced 80% of all passengers of Lithuanian airports (1.5 million); 17% of the total passenger traffic was handled in Kaunas (330 thousand) and 3% (63 thousand) in Palanga. Compared to the first half-year of 2014, the number OF passengers in Vilnius Airport grew by nearly 14%; it rose by 1% in Palanga and remained stable in Kaunas.

“With the passenger growth tendency in mind, we may conclude that Lithuania is becoming an increasingly attractive country for both tourists and business passengers. Lithuanians, as well, prefer to spend their holidays abroad; therefore, after the holiday season gains momentum, we hope that this summer is going to break another record of passenger traffic. The increasing seat occupancy motivates airlines to expand their operation in Lithuania,” said Gediminas Almantas, Managing Director of Lithuanian Airports.

During the past three months the map of destinations reached from Lithuanian airports was expanded with two more cities - flights from Vilnius to Saint Petersburg were resumed; the route to Odessa was launched. Kaunas is going to see the opening of a new route from 15 July – passengers will get a chance to travel to Copenhagen. The connections between Palanga, Copenhagen and Riga are even better in summer – next to regular flights, additional seasonal flights are also operated.

17 airlines operate regular flights from Lithuanian airports to 48 cities (61 airports). Several new destinations will be added to the flight map this autumn – it is planned to fly from Vilnius to Glasgow, Memmingen (Munich-West), Berlin and Billund; from Kaunas to Eilat in Israel (Ovda Airport); the number of flights from Vilnius to Brussels, Paris, Stockholm (Bromma and Skavsta airports), Oslo, Warsaw and Helsinki is expected to increase as well.

During the first six months of 2015 Lithuanian airports handled nearly 24 thousand flights, i.e. 6% more compared to the same period last year.