According to the Lithuanian Air Navigation Service Provider State Enterprise Oro navigacija, in the third quarter, compared to the first two, increase in both total flights and overflights was recorded. It should be noted that the number of overflights handled in the third quarter exceeded that of last year’s. During July–September air traffic controllers rendered services to 80 thousand flights, and out of this number 62 thousand were overflights; compared to the same period last year, there was an increase by 2.8 and 3 per cent, respectively.
Quite different results were recorded in the first and second quarters of this year. In the first quarter of this year, the number of flights handled made up 54.7 thousand, out of which overflights accounted for 40.9 thousand. Compared to the same period in 2018, the total flight number was higher by 0.5 per cent, and the number of overflights was lower by 0.1 per cent, compared to January–March 2018.
In the second quarter of this year, the total number of flights handled reached 71.6 thousand, including 54.3 thousand of overflights. Compared to April–June in 2018, the total flight number and the number of overflights were lower by 0.6 and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
It was Vilnius airport that saw the largest number of aircraft movements over the three quarters of this year: services to 35.7 thousand aircraft (69.6 per cent of all movements in the international Lithuanian airports) were provided. During the nine months of this year, the number of aircraft movements in Vilnius was lower by 0.3 per cent, compared to the same period last year.
Over the January–September period, the number of aircraft movements in Kaunas airport handled by specialists of the enterprise amounted to 7.4 thousand (their number was higher by 3.8 per cent, compared to last year), i.e. 14.5 per cent of all movements in the international Lithuanian airports.
During the three quarters of this year, Oro navigacija provided services to 4.7 thousand aircraft movements in Šiauliai airport, i.e. 9.1 per cent of all movements in the international Lithuanian airports. Their number in January–September was higher by 9.5 per cent, compared to the same period last year.
The number of aircraft movements in Palanga made up 3.5 thousand, i.e. 6.8 per cent of total movements in the international Lithuanian airports. Compared to last year, during the three quarters this year their number was lower by 1.6 per cent.
“Traditionally, most frequent destinations of aircraft flying the Lithuanian airspace by transit are Russia, Germany and Finland, while most popular directions operated from Lithuania are airports of the United Kingdom, Latvia and Germany”, while summarizing the results for the past nine months noted Mindaugas Gustys, CEO of Oro navigacija.
According to the data available to the enterprise, over the nine months this year, most frequently flights via Lithuania were operated to the Russian Federation (36.4 thousand flights, i.e. 2.7 per cent increase, compared to the same period last year), Germany (24 thousand, i.e. less by 0.4 per cent), Finland (12 thousand, i.e. less by 3.1 per cent), Latvia (11.6 thousand, i.e. 9.2 per cent increase) and China (6.3 thousand, i.e. 3.9 per cent increase).
Over the three quarters of this year, main directions of flights operated from Lithuania were the United Kingdom (2.6 thousand, i.e. less by 0.2 per cent compared to last year), Latvia (2.3 thousand flights, i.e. 3.8 per cent increase), Germany (2.1 thousand, i.e. less by 3.8 per cent), Poland (2 thousand, i.e. less by 6.3 per cent) and Denmark (1.5 thousand, i.e. less by 4.3 per cent).
About air navigation services:
According to the Multilateral Agreement Lithuania has delegated the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) billing and collection of charges on its behalf. Costs of billing and collection of charges are covered by airspace users.
Airlines pay the route air navigation service charges for the services provided during overflights. When aircraft take off from/land at one of the Lithuanian airports, the terminal air navigation service charges are paid by airlines.
Costs of SE Oro navigacija are fully covered by revenue from main activities and the enterprise receives no funds from the state budget.
