Vilnius Čiurlionis International Airport (IATA:VNO,ICAO:EYVI) (Lithuanian:Tarptautinis Vilniaus Čiurlionio oro uostas) is theairport of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is located 5.9 km (3.7 mi) south[4] of the city center. It is the largest of the three commercial airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic, with one runway and 5 million passengers a year.[3] Vilnius International Airport serves as a base forairBaltic,Ryanair, andWizz Air. The airport is managed byJoint Stock Company Lithuanian Airports under theMinistry of Transport and Communications.[5] It is the96th busiest airport in Europe. In honor ofMikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the airport was renamed toVilnius Čiurlionis International Airport (Lithuanian:Tarptautinis Vilniaus Čiurlionio oro uostas) from 1 January 2025, to 31 December 2029.
The opening of the Warsaw–Vilnius–Riga–Tallinn airline on 17 August 1932
The airport began operations inSecond Polish Republic on 17 August 1932[1] asWilno–Porubanek, Porubanek was the name of the neighbouring village which today is part of the Kirtimai district of Vilnius. BeforeWorld War II, it operated the then-domestic route between Wilno (Vilnius) and Warsaw as well as international route to Riga. Since 15 April 1939, it inaugurated a new route toKaunas. The airport was used as a military airfield during the war. The airport resumed its activity as a civil airport as of 17 July 1944.[6]
Lithuanian Airlines (branded later asFlyLAL) was established as the Lithuanianflag carrier following independence in 1991 and inherited the Vilnius-basedAeroflot fleet ofTupolev Tu-134,Yakovlev Yak-40,Yak-42 andAntonov An-24,An-26 aircraft, but rapidly replaced these Soviet-era aircraft types with modernBoeing 737 andBoeing 757 jets andSaab 340,Saab 2000 turboprops. Operations were suspended effective 17 January 2009 as a result of growing financial difficulties. With the collapse of flyLAL, the airport lost its scheduled services to Amsterdam, Budapest, Istanbul, Madrid andTbilisi. flyLAL used to operate to Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Milan and Paris in competition withAer Lingus,airBaltic andLufthansa.[citation needed]
AirBaltic, the national airline of Latvia and underScandinavian Airlines part-ownership, opened up a second base at Vilnius in 2004 to complement its Riga operation and became the largest carrier at Vilnius, usingBoeing 737 jets andFokker 50 turboprops. At one point, airBaltic operated to 19 destinations from Vilnius but, in 2009, the network covered only three destinations served by two aircraft based at Vilnius.[citation needed]
Vilnius Airport is the main hub for Grand Cru Airlines and a base forWizz Air. It used to be a main hub for Star1 Airlines until their end of operations in September 2010 andAurela until Aurela had lost its flight license. It was the hub forSmall Planet Airlines andAviavilsa until both airlines folded. The airport was a secondary hub forairBaltic,Estonian Air andSkyways Express until they closed the bases in Vilnius.[citation needed]
On 30 June 2013,Air Lituanica also began its flights from the Vilnius Airport and established its base there serving several European cities. However, by 22 May 2015, the airline shut down all operations as well.[7]
The airport was closed for 35 days from 14 July 2017 to 17 August 2017 (inclusive) for runway reconstruction work, with all flights diverted toKaunas Airport.[8][9]
In 2025, the airport was closed on several occasions due to helium-filledweather balloons flying near the airport from Belarus being used to smuggleblack-market cigarettes into the European Union.[10][11][12][13][14]
Vilnius International Airport terminal buildingMain entrance to the airport
The original terminal was built in 1934–1936 to a design by Józefa Mrówkowa-Ochmańska; Stanisław Połujan was the construction manager.[15] The three-story building was designed in modernist style, and had a restaurant with a terrace, a hotel for passengers, a newspaper kiosk, a customs post, a police station and a post office.[15] The building was criticized for its overly luxurious interior design and size, which was unsuitable for the small, nascent civilian air traffic in Vilnius.[15]
The construction of the current airport building started in 1949 and completed in 1954.[6] It features a standard 1950s Soviet airport terminal design, originally intended for an airport with up to 20 aircraft movements per day. On the outside, it is decorated with sculptures of soldiers, workers and aviators, while inside walls and ceilings feature wreaths, bay leaves and stars, and until the early 1990s, the Soviet hammer and sickle, typical decor for Soviet public buildings of early post-war years.[citation needed]
A new departure terminal, connected with the old building, was built in 1993.[16] Since then, the old building has been used as the arrival terminal only.[6]
In November 2007, the new 1,000 m2 (10,764 sq ft) terminal building was opened for operations which improved the capacity and facilities of the airport and complies with the requirements of theSchengen agreement.[citation needed] The passenger throughput of the terminal increased, passenger service quality was improved and more stringent aviation security measures were implemented. The new area of the renovated passenger terminal now reaches 3,462 m2 (37,265 sq ft). It is equipped with 6 passenger boarding bridges, modern passengercheck-in equipment, new travel value andduty-free shops were opened as well as business lounge and VIP Lounge.[17]
Construction of a new departure terminal at Vilnius Airport started in January 2023. After the completion of this 14,400 m2 (155,000 sq ft) terminal, the total area of Vilnius Airport passenger terminals will increase by one third, and passenger throughput will double – from 1,200 passengers per hour to 2,400. Together with the construction of the new terminal, a redevelopment of road infrastructure is planned, including upgrades of engineering networks and a new transport scheme. The terminal was opened on 4 February 2025.[18] with projected cost of 50.2 million euros.[19]
Direct train services betweenVilnius Airport Railway Station (referred to as "Oro uostas" in the schedules) and the centralstation of Vilnius were started in October 2008. Distance from the Airport to the Vilnius Central Railway Station (LTG Link) is 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi), the journey takes 8 minutes.
The direct intercity express services operate from the Airport to Klaipėda, Palanga, Minsk and Daugavpils. Also, the Latvian company Flybus.lv operates service from Vilnius airport to Riga (via Panevėžys and Bauska).[95]
City's public buses operate from the airport. Tickets can be bought from: Trafi, M.Ticket. Also, the company Toks transports passengers from the bus station to Vilnius airport and back bymicrobuses.[95]
Passenger handling, aircraft handling, into-plane fueling and de-icing/anti-icing services are handled by BGS and Litcargus.[96] Pilot training is conducted atKyviškės airfield, a non-commercial airport about 25 kilometers[97] from Vilnius Airport.[98][99]
Scandinavian Airlines Flight 2748, operated withDash-8-400 (LN-RDS) with 48 passengers and 4 crew members, took off fromCopenhagen Airport on 12 September 2007. It was heading toPalanga, Lithuania, but was diverted to Vilnius Airport (better suited for an emergency landing) when landing gear problems were discovered before landing. Upon touchdown, the right landing gear collapsed. All passengers and crew were evacuated safely. The local officials at the Vilnius International Airport noted that this was the most serious incident in recent years. This accident, along with the Aalborg accident just days earlier, caused all SAS Dash 8 Q400 planes to be grounded until the beginning of October of that year.[citation needed]
On 23 May 2021,Ryanair Flight 4978, operated using aBoeing 737-8AS with 171 passengers on board, traveling in Belarusian airspace en route from Athens to Vilnius, was intercepted by a Belarusian MiG-29 before it could reach Lithuanian airspace. It was then forced to land atMinsk National Airport. Upon landing, theBelarusian KGB arrested two of the passengers, opposition activistRoman Protasevich and his girlfriendSofia Sapega. The other passengers were allowed to reboard the plane to depart for Vilnius after seven hours.[citation needed]
On 21 June 2023, the runway was closed afterBrussels Airlines Flight 2372, set to fly toBrussels Airport could not take off as a landing gear tire popped while taxiing.[100]
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