20 pct more destinations once new Vilnius Airport terminal is built – minister

VILNIUS – The number of flight destinations from Vilnius will go up by 20 percent in 2025 once the departure terminal at Vilnius Airport is built, Lithuanian Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis says.

The terminal will be equipped with the latest generation of security equipment, and passengers will no longer have to remove liquids or computers from their luggage, which will increase throughput by around 20-30 percent, the head of Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU), the airport operator in Lithuania, says.

"If today we have about 60 regular destinations through the airports, the number goes up to 80 all the time in the summer. Next year (2025 - BNS) we plan to have around 100 regular destinations. Clearly, quality, not quantity, that matters, and for us to reach major hubs, …so we will definitely have good news, and airports have all the instruments now to ensure that," the minister said at an event said on Monday to mark the completion of the installation of the main structures for the new terminal.

In 2024, work will take place inside the terminal where various types of technological solutions will be installed.

The new departure terminal is scheduled to open in 2025 after it has been connected to the airport's existing infrastructure. The airport will then be able to serve twice as many people as now.

LTOU CEO Simonas Bartkus says the new terminal will pay particular attention to aviation safety.

"The new terminal will be equipped with the latest generation of aviation security equipment specifically designed for screening passengers' hand luggage, so this new equipment will make it much easier for passengers to prepare for the whole process as passengers will no longer have to take liquids computers out of their suitcases," he told reporters on Monday.

"We will have more checkpoints and (...) that capacity, how many people we can serve every hour, will grow. (...) We expect the capacity to grow by about 20-30 percent," Bartkus added.

The new terminal is being built by Eikos Statyba for 41.5 million euros.