“On 20 January 1992, the first “Austrian Airlines” aeroplane landed in Vilnius Airport. Thus, an air route was opened to connect two capital cities, Vienna and Vilnius, directly. “Austrian Airlines” came to Lithuania only a few months after the recognition of our Independence. The Vienna-Vilnius connection was one of the bridges that opened the Western world to Lithuania, and opened Lithuania to the West. And now, a quarter of a century later, this route remains important not only for tourism, but also for business needs,” says Jūratė Baltrušaitytė, the Chief Commercial Officer of Lithuanian Airports.
The sustainability and importance of the route is also noted by Christopher Zimmer, a representative of “Austrian Airlines” in Finland and the Baltic states: “The connection from Vilnius to Vienna is a stable and sustainable route that makes Lithuania accessible to passengers from all over the world. In this way, tourists discover a small, but a very beautiful country, while businessmen establish useful relationships and find investment opportunities. So, now we see that the decision that was made then was correct and far-sighted.”
Flights that connect the capitals of Lithuania and Austria take place every day. In 2016, approximately 44,000 passengers took this route. Last year, over 23,000 people in total came to Vilnius from Vienna and almost 21,000 passengers travelled to Vienna. Approximately a half of travellers to the capital of Austria stay there, while others choose Vienna Airport as an intermediate stop as it offers flights to 130 destinations in 58 countries.
“Austrian Airlines”, which connected Lithuania and Austria via an air route, carried out 136,112 flights in 2016, i.e. 372 flights per day on average. Last year, this airline was in the top five based on on-time performance.
During the reconstruction of the runway in Vilnius Airport, i.e. from 14 July to 18 August, the aeroplanes of “Austrian Airlines” will take off and land in Kaunas Airport.
