Lithuania’s airport system: Winds of change

Airport World
Joe Bates
05 June 2025

Lithuanian Airports CEO, Simonas Bartkus, tells Joe Bates more about the growth and development of the country’s three main airports – Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga.

These are busy and exciting times for Lithuania’s airports, particularly for jewel in the crown Vilnius (VNO), which earlier this year opened its new Departures Terminal [Feb 2025] and officially unveiled its symbolic new name – Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis International Airport.

With the new Departures area now up and running, Bartkus says that it is time to upgrade some of the remaining older gate areas and create an expanded new Arrivals Terminal.

Before then though, and beginning in mid-2025, the airport will redesign and repurpose the old check-in area into an airside commercial zone with shops, lounges and F&B outlets. This conversion is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Simultaneously, the planning and construction of a new €50 million Arrivals Terminal is expected to start shortly with its completion anticipated by the end of 2028, by which time VNO should be equipped to handle around 10 million passengers per annum.

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