VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania resumed flights at Vilnius Airport and reopened two crossings on the Belarus border on Wednesday following closures overnight when smugglers’ balloons entered the capital city’s airspace, the National Crisis Management Centre said.
Some 30 flights and more than 4,000 passengers were affected when dozens of helium weather balloons drifted towards the airport late on Tuesday. Lithuania also closed the two Belarus border crossings following the incident.
The NCMC said it was the second time this month that balloons carrying contraband cigarettes from neighbouring Belarus had interrupted air traffic in Vilnius, which is located 30 km (20 miles) from the border.
European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Hugh Lawson)
