Vilnius Airport has stopped accepting aircraft and diverted 16 flights due to hot air balloons spotted in the airspace, the airport's press service told TASS.
“Sixteen planes were unable to land, most of them were diverted to alternate airports in Riga, Kaunas, Warsaw and Gdansk. Several flights were forced to return to the airports from which they took off“, the agency's source said.
“Operations have resumed and we are awaiting the arrival of the planes that were diverted to alternate airports“, the airport's control center said. They noted that the first flight to arrive was from Malaga, which had already made a temporary stopover in Riga, but landed at its destination after Vilnius Airport reopened.
It was previously reported that the airport in the Lithuanian capital had been suspended due to hot air balloons. In September, air traffic problems at Vilnius Airport occurred three times: on September 9, 11 and 27 - when restrictions were imposed due to sightings of unmanned aerial vehicles.