VILNIUS - The Lithuanian Ministry of Transportation and Commu-nication has announced that it will be doing a feasibility study regarding constructing a railway between the Vilnius train station and Vilnius Inter-national Airport.
According to preliminary data released by the Ministry, travel time for passengers on this route may be as short as 10-12 minutes. The project was discussed April 2 by a group of experts from the Airport Authority, Lithuanian Rail-ways, and the Transportation and Commu-nications Ministry.
The panel members are looking at converting the existing Vilnius 's Kirtimai 's Stasilos railway line to this use. A Transportation Ministry expert told the press that the panel members are developing the concept in principle, but that a lot of work needs to be done to convert the idea into a realistic financial plan and give it a timeline.
Currently, a direct bus service connects the Vilnius International Airport to the railway station downtown. Another more round-about bus route runs from the airport to the historic city centre and suburbs, leaving roughly every 15 minutes. A minibus service is also available from the bus stop, which covers various routes through the city and Vilnius' outskirts. In addition to this, cab service in Vilnius is quite reliable and relatively cheap.
In 2007, 1.7 million passengers were processed at the Vilnius International Airport, most of them by airBaltic 'sthe leading air carrier in the Baltic states. The first quarter of 2008 brought the airport 420,250 passengers, as compared to 720,651 in Riga and 403,914 in Tallinn. Vilnius airport remains, however, the fastest growing hub in the Baltics. Its volume growth this past quarter was 37.3 percent, as compared to a 12 percent increase in Tallinn and a 21.8 percent increase in Riga.
