According to Aurimas Stikliūnas, Head of Aviation Services at Lithuanian Airports, Kaunas Airport stands out in terms of the growth of passenger flow: more than 72,000 travellers were served in November this year, while in 2020 this number was almost 7.7 thousand.
‘At the end of this autumn, demand for air travel remained high. We can state that during the two years of the pandemic, people learned to travel safely. Therefore, passenger flows maintain their growth trends. This trend was directly contributed by the fact that ten new direct flight directions have been launched in the middle of the autumn. The results that were recorded a year ago are surpassed by the flows in the last month surpass in times rather than in percentage. In addition, there are rapid attempts to catch up with the results that were achieved in the record year 2019, and in some segments the results, that were at the time, are even overpassed‘, - emphasizes A. Stikliūnas.
In November this year, the largest number of passengers was served at Vilnius Airport – 225 thousand. Kaunas Airport was the second in terms of the number of passengers served (72 thousand passengers), and the flow of 11 thousand passengers was recorded at Palanga Airport.
In November, twice as many flights as last year were served at Lithuanian Airports – 3.6 thousand, compared to 1.5 thousand flights last year. In November, Kaunas Airport surpassed the number of flights in 2019, which is considered the record-breaking year - this year, during the last month of the autumn, 762 flights were served here, or 1.2% more than before the pandemic when 753 flights were served.
‘We are observing a pretty sudden recovery not only in the passenger transportation segment but also in the freight shipping sector. This year, the cargo volumes at Lithuanian Airports exceed the pre-pandemic levels. The growth is almost 8% - in November this year, almost 1.7 thousand tons of cargo were transported, while in 2019, this indicator was 1.5 thousand tonnes’, - says A. Stikliūnas.
As in previous years, the largest amount of cargo – 1.3 thousand tonnes - was transported through Vilnius Airport.
Stable growth is also noticed in the number of flight directions offered. In November, flights at Lithuanian Airports were operated in 73 directions, which is 55% more than at the same time last year. In November 2019, passengers could choose from 80 travel routes.
