Vilnius International Airport (IATA: VNO, ICAO: EYVI) is Lithuania's main international airport and sits roughly 30 kilometres west of the Belarusian border. Since October 2025 it has been the focal point of a series of airspace closures caused by smuggling balloons launched from Belarusian territory. Lithuanian officials have described the pattern as a hybrid security threat; the EU has moved toward sanctioning Belarus in response.
AirVeto's value at Vilnius Airport is situational: when a balloon incursion is reported, the first question is whether the wind field at the relevant altitude band was pointing from the Belarusian side toward the airport approach. Orange border segments on the Lithuanian-Belarusian frontier in the hours before a recovery indicate the drift envelope was physically compatible. Several entries in the incident archive reconstruct specific Vilnius closures.
Smuggling balloons over the Belarusian-Lithuanian border typically cruise between 3,000 m and 8,000 m. Reading the wind at those altitudes rather than at the surface is usually the correct call; the boundary-layer wind often looks quite different from the mid-troposphere flow that actually governs balloon drift.
Vilnius has been closed more than ten times since early October 2025 for balloon incursions — see the incident archive for reconstructions of the individual events.
Incidents at this location
- Vilnius Airport balloon incursion 28 January 2026 — 8 balloons intercepted, 55 km/h wind at 7 km from south
- Vilnius Airport closed 22:30 April 9 – 03:30 April 10 2026 after suspected balloon incursion from Belarus
Methodology: see /about/methodology. AirVeto is not for aviation, navigation, or safety-critical decisions.