Air traffic disrupted in Lithuania due to air raid alert and weather balloon
Kyiv • UNN
Vilnius Airport rescheduled three flights affecting 480 passengers due to an aerial threat. The unidentified object turned out to be a standard meteorological balloon.
In Lithuania, temporary restrictions at Vilnius Airport due to an aerial threat affected three flights and approximately 480 passengers. It later emerged that the object, initially mistaken for a drone, was a weather balloon, reports LRT, as cited by UNN.
Details
According to Lithuanian Airports (LTOU), two aircraft were diverted to Riga and another to Kaunas. Currently, all flights are returning to Vilnius.
On the morning of June 13, the Lithuanian military warned the population of a possible aerial threat and sent alerts to mobile phones. Residents were advised to remain calm, and the danger level was set to "yellow."
Initially, the cause of the alarm was identified as an unknown object detected by radar that exhibited characteristics of an unmanned aerial vehicle. In response, NATO Baltic Air Policing mission fighter jets were scrambled.
However, the National Crisis Management Center of Lithuania later reported that the target turned out to be a meteorological balloon. Following its identification, the air alert was canceled, and the threat level was changed to "white."
Due to the potential danger, operations at Vilnius Airport were temporarily suspended. After the alert was lifted, the airport resumed operations, though passengers were warned of possible delays or changes to flight schedules.
Lithuania noted that similar signals have been recorded more frequently of late. Specifically, in late May, an air alert was declared due to drones entering the country's territory. Additionally, the highest level of aerial danger was recently implemented in the Vilnius district for the first time in the state's modern history.
According to Lithuanian authorities, residents of Latvia and Estonia have also been warned of potential aerial threats in recent days amid an intensification of drone attacks in the region.