Vilnius airport halts operations thrice due to weather balloons from Belarus

On the evening of January 27, Vilnius International Airport suspended operations three times after contraband weather balloons, reportedly originating from Belarus, were detected, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, told LRT.

Vitkauskas described the incident as the most intense operation against weather balloon smuggling in 2026, noting that authorities detected 42 balloon flights on radar overnight, Caliber.Az reports.

According to him, by the morning of January 28, eight balloons had been found, four people detained, and remnants of several other balloons recovered. The airport closures affected over 1,700 passengers.

Vitkauskas stated that Lithuanian officers have spotted smugglers’ balloons on radar on six occasions this year, though those events involved far fewer flights and did not endanger civil aviation: “This night was exceptional, and the airport was closed.”

Smugglers’ balloons most recently disrupted Vilnius Airport operations on December 6. During last autumn and winter, flights from Belarus of this kind forced Vilnius Airport to halt operations over a dozen times and once affected Kaunas Airport.

In mid-December, the Lithuanian government declared a state of emergency, citing the balloons as a civil aviation threat. Lithuanian officials have labelled the incursions as a hybrid attack orchestrated by Minsk.

By Jeyhun Aghazada