Kaunas airport balloon closure, Oct 24 - 2 flights diverted
Airspace restrictions over Kaunas Airport began at 23:37 local on October 24, 2026 after balloon-type navigation markers appeared; two flights were diverted.
AirVeto finding: Kaunas Airport's restrictions ran 93 minutes, from 23:37 to 01:10, ending 20 minutes before the extended 01:30 deadline, while the 3,000 m wind rose from about 30 km/h in the early evening to 55 km/h from due south by midnight.
- confirmed Restrictions began at 23:37 and were due to end at 00:30, were extended to 01:30, and were lifted earlier. Delfi TV3
- modelled From 23:37 to 01:10 is 93 minutes, 20 minutes short of the 01:30 deadline. Delfi
- modelled At 3,000 m the wind came from the south at 55 km/h around midnight, up from about 30 km/h in the early evening. Open-Meteo
- unknown Where the balloons were launched, or whether one was seen in flight.
Kaunas Airport halted flights from 23:37 local time on Saturday, October 24, 2026, after balloon-type navigation markers appeared in areas risky for aviation, Delfi and TV3 reported. AirVeto's wind data shows the 3,000 m wind rising to about 55 km/h from due south around midnight.
The restrictions were set to end at 00:30, then extended to 01:30, and were lifted at 01:10, Delfi reported. That makes the closure 93 minutes long, 20 minutes short of the extended deadline.
Kaunas Airport lifted its restrictions earlier than the extended deadline
Restrictions over the airport began at 23:37 on October 24 and were due to end at 00:30, Delfi reported. They were later extended to 01:30, then cancelled at 01:10. TV3 carried the extension from a press release, and 15min reported the stoppage in the early hours of October 25.
The press release text ties the detections to a hybrid attack by Belarus against Lithuania, civil aviation and the public. Lithuanian Airports' duty team told passengers with disrupted flights to contact their airlines.
Two flights were diverted, one to Riga and one to Vilnius
Delfi's plain-language version, produced with the news agency ELTA, put the number of diverted flights at two. One went to Riga and one to Vilnius. About 366 passengers were affected, it said, and operations resumed after the restrictions ended.
No outlet reported a balloon seen in flight or a recovered payload for this closure.
The wind blew from the south at about 55 km/h at 3,000 m
Around midnight local time on October 25, the wind at 1,000 m over Kaunas Airport came from the SSW at 22 km/h. At 2,000 m it came from the S at 34 km/h. At 3,000 m it also came from the S, at 55 km/h.
The 3,000 m wind had picked up from about 30 km/h in the early evening, so a balloon at that height was being pushed north faster as the night went on. No source names a launch point or says at what height the markers were detected.
This reconstruction is based on reporting by Delfi, TV3 and 15min and on AirVeto's wind-model data for the closure window.
Kaunas has been the alternate airport in earlier balloon closures
Kaunas took diverted traffic when balloon markers closed Vilnius Airport on June 8. Balloon cargo also fell inside Kaunas in May, in the Šančiai balloon incident. AirVeto follows these cases on its Lithuanian balloon page; the methodology page explains how each reconstruction is built.
Sources
- Delfi - Kauno oro uoste dėl balionų sustabdyti skrydžiai (24 Oct 2026)
- TV3 - Dėl kontrabandinių balionų įvesti oro erdvės ribojimai virš Kauno oro uosto (25 Oct 2026)
- 15min - Kauno oro uoste buvo stabdomi skrydžiai (25 Oct 2026)
- Delfi (ELTA) - Naktį buvo laikinai apribota Kauno oro uosto veikla dėl balionų grėsmės (25 Oct 2026)
- Methodology