airspace incident: Vilnius Airport (2025-10-25)

What happened

On Saturday 25 October at about 21:35 Vilnius Airport again halted traffic because of smugglers' balloons from Belarus; operations resumed at about 03:30 on Sunday. According to Lithuanian Airports (via LRT/BNS and tv3.lt) about 25 flights and about 3,500 passengers were affected; AeroTime gives 5 flights cancelled, 7 diverted and 13 delayed, with diversions mainly to Kaunas. NKVC head Vilmantas Vitkauskas spoke of one recovered balloon with 1,500 packs of cigarettes and four people detained. The second of three consecutive nights of closures. Who launched the balloons has not been established.

Responsibility and limits of the evidence

not assessed

Nobody has yet assessed responsibility for this record. Not assessed is not the same as not established.

Impact

killed

not established

injured

not established

damage

not established

No casualties reported.

Sources

1. Lithuanian airports shut three times over weekend due to smugglers' balloons

   LRT English / BNS / 2025-10-27 / secondary source

   supports: the record, the disruption, that it happened, the date

2. Vilnius and Kaunas airports shut after contraband balloons enter airspace

   AeroTime / 2025-10-27 / secondary source

   supports: the disruption, the impact

3. Į Vilniaus oro uosto erdvę įskrido ir dronas - pateikė naujausią žinią

   tv3.lt / 2025-10-26 / secondary source

   supports: the record, the disruption, that it happened

4. Lithuania's Vilnius Airport grounds flights for third night in a row

   TVP World / secondary source

   supports: the record