Vilnius International Airport (IATA: VNO, ICAO: EYVI) suspended operations from 22:30 UTC on 9 April 2026 to 03:30 UTC on 10 April 2026 — approximately five hours — after objects consistent with smuggling balloons entered civil aviation flight zones on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The initial restriction window ended at 01:30 local, then was extended until 03:30 local, with night flights delayed, diverted, or cancelled for security reasons.
The airport sits roughly 30 km west of the Belarusian border. For context, this was the fourth Vilnius closure of 2026 attributed to balloons carrying contraband cigarettes launched from Belarusian territory — the first three occurred in January and March, and Lithuanian authorities had intercepted at least 45 balloons in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
Wind field reconstruction
At the relevant window, AirVeto's rendered wind vectors at 3,000 m across the Lithuanian-Belarusian border showed the westerly component expected from the synoptic pattern: surface winds light and variable, mid-level (2,000–3,000 m) flow from the east-southeast at approximately 15–25 kt, consistent with the observation that the objects drifted from Belarusian airspace toward the Vilnius approach. At 500 m — the altitude most relevant for low-floating balloons — the wind direction was similar but speed reduced to roughly 8–12 kt, implying a 2–3 hour drift time across the 30 km border-to-airport distance.
Several border segments on the Lithuanian-Belarusian frontier were orange during this window — meaning the rendered wind vector was crossing into the EU within 85° of the border-normal.
What this page does and does not claim
- Claims: at the selected altitude, the public Open-Meteo wind field during this window was physically compatible with objects drifting from the Belarusian side into Lithuanian airspace toward Vilnius Airport.
- Does not claim: any object-level trajectory, any identification of specific balloon paths, or any operational attribution beyond what Lithuanian authorities and Reuters have published. AirVeto renders the drift-enabling wind field; actual trajectories require a proper dispersion model (HYSPLIT, FLEXPART) with higher-resolution meteorological input.