Rapid growth at VIA

VILNIUS - The Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) announced that Vilnius International Airport (VIA) in August took fifth place among European airports according to the increase in passenger traffic, reports ELTA. VIA is in fourth position in the group of airports welcoming less than five million passengers per year.
Having evaluated the activity of European airports, ACI Europe announced the list of airports that had experienced the highest increase in passenger traffic in August. Vilnius Airport left behind 161 out of 166 airports that participated in the research of ACI Europe.

In comparison with August 2010, Macedonia Ohrid Airport reached a 93.5 percent increase in passenger traffic; Venice Airport - 43.1 percent; Tallinn Airport - 39.5 percent; Skeleftea Airport in Sweden - 36.2 percent, and Vilnius Airport - 26.3 percent. The overall traffic increase rate in European airports in August was approximately 4.5 percent compared with the same period in 2010.

“We are happy to see that even two airports in the Baltic States operated especially productively, because this proves the general recovery of the Baltic region’s market. Successful results of Vilnius Airport make us believe that this year more passengers will be serviced in the Lithuanian airports, compared with the record year of 2008,” Eligijus Masiulis, the Minister of Transport, said, commenting on the results.

The airport has also received good evaluations in the portal of aviation market analysis: “The portal anna.aero points out the four largest airports in the Baltic States - Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Kaunas, because the overall passenger traffic in August increased by more than 16 percent. And this number really exceeds the average in Europe,” Tomas Vaisvila, the general manager of VIA, said.

He emphasizes that Vilnius Airport intends to retain a 26 percent average increase rate, reached during the summer season, for the rest of the year. This has been already proven by September results: 179,500 passengers were served, i.e. 38.4 percent more compared to the same period in 2010.