VILNIUS - Kaunas Airport is gearing up to become the next hub for low-cost airlines, a Trans-port Ministry official announced last week.
"The ministry's position is that Kaunas Airport should negotiate with every low-fare airline and apply the same pricing policy to all of them," Valdemaras Salauskas, the Transport Ministry secretary, told the Baltic News Service on Nov. 19.
"As far as we know, [the airport] has at this point received proposals only from the Irish discount airline Ryanair," he said.
Salauskas said he had spoken with airport managers, who presented their positions on future airline negotiations to ministry officials. Participants in the meeting stated that budget airlines faced no obstacles in operating flights from Kaunas Airport.
In response to questions about competition, Salauskas said that airports in Vilnius and the seaside resort of Palanga were likely to decrease their fees as well - though not enough to satisfy low-cost carriers.
Ryanair announced plans to introduce flights in Lithuania by early October 2005. During their visit to the Baltic country, the airline's representatives said that Ryanair intended to begin services from Kaunas in September 2005 and planned to carry up to 200,000 passengers per year.
Ryanair plans to fly passengers from Kaunas to five European destinations: London, Stockholm, Tampere, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt and Hamburg.
