{"id":158602,"date":"2025-10-05T17:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/158602\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"suspected-contraband-balloons-disrupt-vilnius-airport-affecting-6000-passengers","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/158602\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspected contraband balloons disrupt Vilnius Airport, affecting 6,000 passengers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>October 5, <em>Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>A \u201cseries of air balloons\u201d that flew into Lithuania on the night of October 5\u20136 forced Vilnius Airport to suspend operations, according to its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Information about the balloons was received at about 10:16 p.m. To ensure flight safety, temporary restrictions were implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The airspace over the Lithuanian capital was reopened at about 04:50 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a result of these temporary restrictions, both arriving and departing flights were affected\u2014some of them were cancelled. In total, approximately 30 flights and nearly 6,000 passengers were affected,\u201d the airport said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It warned that flight delays were possible throughout the day \u201cdue to disrupted crew and aircraft rotations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Lithuania\u2019s National Crisis Management Center, 25 weather balloons \u201ccommonly used by smugglers\u201d violated the country\u2019s airspace last night, <em>LRT<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smugglers often use balloons to send cigarettes from Belarus to the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In September 2024, a small, uncontrolled balloon carrying Belarusian cigarettes fell in the territory of the Vilnius Airport. Vilnius police spokesperson Loreta Kairien\u0117 said that a hot air balloon burst over the airport and the box it was carrying fell onto the territory. It was wrapped in black packaging covering Minsk cigarette packs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The airport  did not suspend operations after that incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u041e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">\u041e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Lithuania seizes 12,000 packs of cigarettes smuggled from Belarus by drones<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">October 2, Pozirk. Lithuania intercepted drones carrying 12,000 packs of cigarettes in six batches yesterday, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service reports.\u00a0 Smugglers\u2019 drones equipped with GPS sensors arrived as far as the \u0160al\u010dininkai, Var\u0117na and Alytus districts, it said. &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/158193\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read the article<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 5, Pozirk. A \u201cseries of air balloons\u201d that flew into Lithuania on the night of October 5\u20136 forced Vilnius Airport to suspend operations, according to its website. Information about the balloons was received at about 10:16 p.m. To ensure flight safety, temporary restrictions were implemented. The airspace over the Lithuanian capital was reopened at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":107045,"template":"","rubric":[14,13],"class_list":["post-158602","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suspected contraband balloons disrupt Vilnius Airport, affecting 6,000 passengers | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October 5, Pozirk. A \u201cseries of air balloons\u201d that flew into Lithuania on the night of October 5\u20136 forced Vilnius Airport to suspend operations, according\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/158602\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suspected contraband balloons disrupt Vilnius Airport, affecting 6,000 passengers | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 5, Pozirk. 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