Vilnius International Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Vilnius International Airport
nativename = Tarptautinis Vilniaus oro uostas
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


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IATA = VNO
ICAO = EYVI
type = Public
owner =
operator = Ministry of Transport and Communications
city-served =
location = Vilnius, Lithuania
elevation-f = 646
elevation-m = 197
coordinates = Coord|54|38|03|N|25|17|09|E|type:airport_region:LT
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 02/20
r1-length-f = 8,251
r1-length-m = 2,515
r1-surface = Asphalt
stat-year =
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Vilnius International Airport airport codes|VNO|EYVI ( _lt. Tarptautinis Vilniaus Oro Uostas) is the largest civil airport in Lithuania. It is located 7km south of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It began operations in 1944, the old terminal was built in 1954.

Policy

Vilnius International Airport is a state owned company, established by the Lithuanian Ministry of Transportation in 1991. airBaltic had most passengers from the airport in 2006, followed by flyLal, the national airline of Lithuania.It also serves flights of SAS, Lufthansa, Finnair, Aeroflot, Austrian Airlines, Czech Airlines, LOT, and some other regional airlines.

Vilnius International Airport is a fast growing airport that receives over one million passengers per year (1.717.222 in 2007). It is the largest of the four major airports in Lithuania: Kaunas International Airport (also known as Karmėlava Airport) in Kaunas, Šiauliai International Airport in Šiauliai (also known as Zokniai Airport, formerly one of the largest military airports in Europe, now services NATO and freight flights), and Palanga International Airport in Palanga.

Annual passenger statistics for Vilnius Airport

Baltic's busiest airports by passenger traffic

Airlines and destinations

Lithuanian Airlines (nowadays marketed as flyLal) was established as the major Lithuanian airline following independence in 1991 and inherited the Vilnius-based Aeroflot fleet of Tupolev's Tu -134 , Yakovlev's Yak - 40/42 and Antonov - 24/26, but rapidly replaced these and now has Boeing 737, 757 jets and Saab 2000 turboprops. Air Baltic, the national airline of Latvia and under SAS ownership, opened up a second base at Vilnius to complement their Riga operation and has become the second largest carrier at the airport now, using Boeing 737 jets and Fokker F50 turboprops. The third carrier with a base here is Aurela Airlines with two Boeing 737 and two Boeing 757 jets, who specialise in holiday and business charter flights to the Asia, Black Sea and Mediterranean resorts.

Regular flights

*Aer Lingus (Dublin)
*airBaltic (Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf [ends 25 October 2008] , Hamburg, Helsinki, London-Gatwick, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Oslo, Paris-Charles de Gaulle [seasonal, ends 24 October 2008, restarts 9 March 2009] , Riga, Rome-Fiumicino [seasonal, ends 23 October 2008, restarts 10 March 2009] , Simferopol [seasonal] , Stockholm-Arlanda, Tallinn)
**operated by DOT LT (Riga [ends 25 October 2008] )
*Austrian Airlines
**operated by Austrian Arrows (Vienna)
*Czech Airlines (Prague)
*Estonian Air
**operated by Estonian Air Regional (Tallinn)
*Finnair (Helsinki)
*flyLAL (Amsterdam, Brussels [ends 24 October 2008] , Budapest [starts 28 October 2008] , Frankfurt, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kiev-Boryspil, Larnaca [seasonal] , London-Gatwick, Madrid [starts 27 October 2008] , Milan-Malpensa [ends 14 October 2008] , Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Palma de Mallorca [seasonal] , Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Riga [ends 25 October 2008] , Rome-Fiumcino, Tallinn, Tbilisi [ends 22 October 2008] , Thessaloniki [seasonal] )
*Flysmaland (Växjö)
*LOT Polish Airlines
**operated by Eurolot (Warsaw)
*Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
**operated by Eurowings (Frankfurt)
*Norwegian Air Shuttle (Oslo)
*UTair Aviation (Moscow-Vnukovo)

Charter flights

*Air Malta (Valletta)
*Aurela
*Futura International Airways
*flyLAL
*Hemus Air (Varna)
*Karthago Airlines (Monastir)
*LatCharter (Riga)
*SunExpress (Antalya, Izmir)
*Sun d'Or International Airlines (Tel Aviv)

Terminal Buildings

The airport is notable for its 1950s arrivals terminal building. It is a standard Soviet airport terminal design, originally intended for an airport with up to 20 aircraft movements per day. On the outside, it is decorated with sculptures of soldiers, workers and aviators, while inside walls and ceilings feature wreaths, bay leaves and stars, typical decor for Soviet public buildings of early post-war years.

In November 2007, the new 17,000 sq.m terminal building was opened for operations which improved the capacity and facilities of the airport and complies with the requirements of the Schengen agreement.

Incidents and accidents

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 2748, a de Havilland Canada Dash-8-400 (LN-RDS) with 48 passengers and 4 crew members, took off from Copenhagen Airport, Denmark, on September 12 2007. It was headed to Palanga, Lithuania, but was diverted to Vilnius Airport (better suited for an emergency landing) when landing gear problems were discovered before landing. Upon touchdown, the right landing gear collapsed. All passengers and crew were evacuated safely. The local officials at the Vilnius International Airport noted that this was the most serious incident in recent years. This accident, along with the Aalborg accident just days earlier, caused all SAS Dash 8-400 planes to be grounded until the beginning of October.

Ground transportation

Trains

Direct train services between Vilnius Airport Railway Station and Vilnius central station started operating in October 2008. The journey takes 7 min. One way ticket costs 2 Lt (0,58 EUR). Going by train is the fastest way get from the airport to the city. Vilnius airport is the only airport in Baltic states which has rail connection.

Buses

Bus line no. 1 - Vilnius Airport – Vilnius Central Station
Bus line no. 2 - Vilnius airport - City Center - Šeškinė (The north of the city)
Regular price for all routes is 1,10 Lt (0,32 Eur), from driver 1,40 Lt (0,41 Eur).

External links

* [http://www.vilnius-airport.lt/en/ Vilnius International Airport]
* [http://www.litrail.lt/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3h3C2N_VzcPIwMDH3NHAyNTU69gPyd_Q-MQQ_1wkA6zeAMcwNFA388jPzdVPzg1T78gO68cAA3xbxg!/dl2/d1/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnB3LzZfRzgzT0VGSDIwMEw3QTAyNTVKU05CTzFCVTY!/ Train schedule between Vilnius Airport and Vilnius central station]
*WAD|EYVI