With more than 3,000 flights in February this year compared to 1,174 last year, the number of flights in February this year comprises more than 70% of the flight flow in the same period in 2019.
The fastest recovery of aviation indicators can be observed at Kaunas Airport, where the passenger flow has reached 80% of its pre-pandemic level, and the number of flights has almost reached complete recovery (96%).
Last year in February, 4,000 passengers travelled through Kaunas Airport, this year passenger traffic comprises more than 60,000. According to aviation experts, in comparison to last year, passenger traffic at Palanga Airport in February increased more than 7 times, and almost 5 times at Vilnius Airport.
In February this year, Lithuanian Airports offered three times as many destinations, i.e. 67. 22 destinations were offered to passengers last year at the same time. In 2019, there were 85 direct flight destinations.
The volume of cargo handled this February even surpassed 2019, which was considered to be a record-breaking year. In February of 2022, 1,500 tonnes of cargo were transported through Lithuanian airports (+1% as compared to 2021, and +30% as compared to 2019).
The representatives of Lithuanian Airports would like to remind that the summer season in aviation industry officially starts at the end of March, and some airlines are already preparing for it by renewing or launching new destinations.
“Recent events and the war in Ukraine have undoubtedly had the greatest direct impact on those airlines that have routes to and from Ukraine, or have aircrafts based there. As far as the impact on Lithuanian Airports is concerned, we do not see any major negative fluctuations in the number of passengers so far, as most of the routes are to other European countries. We estimate that the discontinuation of direct routes to Ukraine will reduce the total number of passengers by about 2%” said Aurimas Stikliūnas, Head of Aviation Services at Lithuanian Airports.
About Lithuanian Airports
The network of Lithuanian Airports includes three air gates in Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga. In 2021, Lithuanian Airports serviced almost 2.5 million passengers, more than 34,000 flights and more than 20,000 tonnes of cargo.
