"Belarusians holding Schengen visas tend to travel more and more, in particular by air transport. They especially prefer their neighbouring countries, including Lithuania, in order to reach Europe by air in a faster, more convenient and cheaper way. Passengers can currently travel from Minsk to Vilnius by air, train or car, whereas Kaunas is not within such an easy reach. Therefore, with the orientation towards the routes from Kaunas Airport, which cover an especially large part of southern Europe, and a rich route map from Vilnius Airport, we seek to create another convenient way for a Belarusian passenger to fly from Lithuania to the world," said Alizana Managing Director Andrej Aleksejuk.
During the summer season express shuttle services from Minsk Airport to Vilnius and Kaunas airports will be available twice a day by new Mercedes shuttle buses. During the winter season passenger transportation will be organised taking into account flight schedules.
"These routes contribute to the strategic plans of Lithuanian Airports to activate and expand the coverage of Vilnius and Kaunas airports in Belarus and to create as favourable conditions as possible for passengers from Belarus to reach Lithuania within the shortest possible time. Belarusians make up over 10% of passengers flying through Kaunas, with an even greater increase in the flow of these passengers this year.
Kaunas offers an especially high number of Ryanair's targeted holiday destinations this summer season, therefore, an extra flow of Belarusian passengers is very welcome. Vilnius, in turn, can be reached from Minsk by air (Belavia direct flights) as well as ground public transport, i.e. by train and bus. Our goal is to meet a passenger arriving from Minsk at Vilnius Airport within 2 hours of his departure from Minsk and within 3 hours at Kaunas Airport respectively," said Gediminas Almantas, Managing Director of the State Enterprise Lithuanian Airports, uniting Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga airports. According to him, an additional flow of higher-income passengers in search of connecting flights from Minsk will find a valuable intermediate stop in Vilnius for both business and holiday destinations.
