VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania’s Vilnius airport said on Sunday it had temporarily halted operations due to balloons moving towards its airspace, diverting some incoming flights to other cities.
The airport was set to reopen at 1.30 am local time (2330 GMT), it said on its website.
European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent months by drone sightings and incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen and Brussels, and the Vilnius closure was the Lithuanian capital’s ninth shutdown since early October.
The Baltic country has said weather balloons flown by smugglers are transporting contraband cigarettes and blames Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko for allowing the practice, calling it a form of “hybrid attack”.
Lithuania last month closed both crossing points on its border with Belarus in response to the balloon incidents, but reopened them earlier this week as the air traffic interruptions appeared to have stopped.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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