According to Aurimas Stikli nas, head of aviation services at Lithuanian airports, the summer season is expected to bring an even faster recovery of aviation traffic. He believes that the removal of pandemic restrictions, an attractive and wide range of destinations and a growing number of tourists on holiday will contribute to this. According to predictions from international aviation databases, Lithuania will continue to hold its leading position in the Baltic States and Europe in terms of supply recovery in the third quarter of this year.
A. Stikli nas points out that in May this year it was possible to restore up to 85% of the total passenger traffic at Lithuanian airports compared to May 2019. In the same month of 2019, 620,000 passengers travelled through Lithuanian airports, more than 5.7 thousand flights were handled and 1.4 thousand tons of cargo were transported.
He adds that Kaunas Airport continues to surprise - for the second month in a row, it has outperformed the pre-pandemic indicators.
Kaunas Airport has picked up its speed and does not seem to be stopping any time soon. In April and May, there was active growth at Kaunas Airport, surpassing the records set in 2019 for the airport. According to A. Stikli nas, "We expect this growth to continue."
In May this year, Kaunas Airport welcomed more than 107,000 passengers, 1052 flights were handled and more than 404 tons of cargo were transported. In the same period of 2019, approximately 102,000 passengers travelled to Kaunas Airport, 891 flights were handled and 277 tons of cargo were transported. Kaunas Airport handled over 10,000 passengers and 439 flights in May 2021, transporting more than 363 tons of cargo.
In May 2022, the Vilnius Airport handled 395,000 passengers and more than 3,600 flights and transported 1,315 tons of cargo. During the same period in 2019, the Vilnius Airport handled almost 488,000 passengers, over 4,500 flights and transported more than 1,139 tons of cargo. The Vilnius Airport handled almost 76,000 passengers, 1,600 flights and almost 1,192 tons of cargo last year.
The Palanga Airport was able to restore 85% of the pre-pandemic passenger traffic. In the fifth month of this year, 25 thousand passengers travelled through the Palanga Airport, 353 flights were handled and 18 tonnes of cargo were transported. More than 29,000 passengers travelled through the airport during the same period in 2019; 410 flights were handled and 0.1 tons of cargo were transported. In May last year, the Palanga Airport handled almost 1.9 thousand passengers, 223 flights and 0.02 tons of cargo.
A. Stakli nas said that we aim to maintain the leading position in the Baltic region and Europe in terms of recovery and growth that we have secured in recent months. We continue to work hard to achieve our goals and we are in constant negotiations with airlines to offer more than one destination for our passengers and to move even faster towards a full recovery.