Lithuania’s Main Airport Temporarily Shut Over Suspected Balloons

Lithuania reopened its main Vilnius Airport early Sunday after several hours of flight suspensions and diversions triggered by reports of balloons possibly entering its airspace, the airport operator said.

Air traffic resumed at 4:50 a.m. (0150 GMT) following a decision late Saturday to temporarily close the airspace “due to a possible series of balloons heading toward Vilnius Airport,” according to a statement posted on the airport’s Facebook page.

Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT quoted the head of the National Crisis Management Center as saying that 13 balloons were detected moving toward Vilnius on Saturday night. Notices posted by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration attributed the airspace restrictions to “hot air balloon flights.”

The closure disrupted several overnight flights, with most arrivals diverted to neighboring Latvia and Poland, while departures were canceled. One flight from Copenhagen was forced to return to Denmark.

The incident comes amid a series of recent airspace disruptions across Europe caused by drones and unidentified flying objects, including at major airports in Copenhagen and Munich.

In August, NATO-member Lithuania imposed a 90-kilometer no-fly zone along its border with Belarus in response to drone incursions, authorizing its armed forces to respond to violations. Lithuania, a firm supporter of Ukraine, shares a 679-km (422-mile) border with Belarus — a close ally of Russia — and its capital Vilnius lies about 30 km from the frontier.