A significant airport in Europe has ceased operations due to a security concern related to balloons.
Flights heading to Vilnius Airport in Lithuania have been redirected following the implementation of airspace restrictions over the capital at 6:09 pm local time. The suspension is anticipated to endure until 9:00 pm.
The airport stated that the decision to enforce airspace restrictions was prompted by the detection of navigational markers resembling balloons moving toward Vilnius Airport.
A Ryanair flight traveling from Oslo to Vilnius was diverted mid-flight to Kaunas Airport in central Lithuania. Similarly, a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Vilnius was rerouted to Riga, the capital of Latvia, while a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Vilnius reversed course back to Helsinki, according to the airport’s official website.
Vilnius Airport has experienced closures on approximately 10 occasions since early October. The airport briefly paused operations late on Friday night before resuming them the following day. Vilmantas Vitkauskas, who heads Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, criticized the situation, referring to the influx of balloons from Belarus as “the peak of cynicism” from Friday evening to early Saturday morning.
Allegedly, helium weather balloons have been exploited for smuggling contraband cigarettes, prompting Lithuania to accuse Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of permitting such activities. In response, Lithuania closed its border with Belarus in October, only reopening it recently.
Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic emphasized that the border closure was a deliberate message to their neighboring country, expressing concerns over the balloon infiltrations, which Lithuania perceives as intentional sabotage by Belarus, a close ally of Russia.
In a counter-response, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized Lithuanian politicians for shifting blame onto Belarus instead of addressing their own shortcomings in apprehending the cigarette smugglers within Lithuania.