Lithuanian Airports (LTOU) estimated that suspected cigarette-smuggling balloons entering Lithuanian airspace from Belarus in recent months have disrupted about 320 flights, leading to losses exceeding €750,000.
Tadas Vasiliauskas, a spokesperson for Lithuanian Airports, told Lithuanian broadcaster LRT that the current loss estimate is preliminary and likely to increase as the airport and its partners have not finished assessing the damage.
The impact also extended to passengers, with more than 45,000 people affected during October and November in 2025.
“According to our calculations, the number of affected passengers is about 5% of the total number of passengers served at Vilnius Airport over the past two months,” Vasiliauskas said.
Most recently, Vilnius Airport (VNO) was closed for two consecutive nights during the last weekend of November 2025. Flights were halted for eight hours on the night of November 29, 2024, and for 11 hours the next day. The 11-hour closure was the longest Vilnius Airport closure to date.
In a statement, Vilnius Airport confirmed that the 11-hour closure impacted more than 7,400 passengers and 50 flights – 31 flights were canceled, 10 were diverted, and nine were delayed.
Saulius Batavičius, the CEO of the state-owned company Oro Navigacija, said that of the 60 balloons recorded during the closure, 40 were located in critical areas. He stated that these balloons were deliberately launched into dangerous aviation zones at specific calculated intervals.
Passenger traffic remains stable despite disruptions
On December 2, 2025, Simonas Bartkus informed LRT Radio that he does not perceive any risk of airlines canceling flights to Lithuania or cutting back on their flight schedules due to ongoing airspace violations linked to smuggling balloons.
He said that some travelers are opting to fly during the day to avoid potential issues, but overall, passenger numbers remain stable. Airlines operating from Vilnius are currently maintaining their flight schedules.
Frequent smuggling balloon flights from Belarus have been unlawfully entering Lithuania’s airspace, causing disruptions to airport operations since early October 2025.
So far, Vilnius Airport, the country’s primary airport, has faced the most significant disruptions, having been closed at least 10 times. In comparison, Kaunas Airport (KUN) was closed once that same month.
In response to the hybrid attack, the Lithuanian government shut the border with Belarus on October 29, 2025, for nearly a month. Despite the illegal balloon flights continuing to disrupt Lithuanian airspace, the border reopened on November 19, 2025.
