Construction of a new departures terminal at Vilnius Airport kicked off on Tuesday. The new terminal is scheduled to be operational in early 2025.
The new terminal will be constructed by Eikos Statyba, the successful tenderer, for an estimated cost of 50.2 million euros.
The 14,400-square-metre terminal will increase the total area of Vilnius Airport’s passenger terminals by a third and double the passenger capacity from 1,200 to 2,400 per hour.
Minister of Transport Marius Skuodis said the reconstruction was required because the old departures terminal was no longer up to the standard.
“Vilnius Airport is imagined in different ways. Experiences are varied. But one thing is that we walk into the airport and see a lot of people. Even before the pandemic, Vilnius Airport had outgrown its clothes. The new terminal will allow us to double its capacity,” Skuodis told reporters on Tuesday.
With the new departure terminal, Vilnius Airport will be able to handle around 8 million passengers a year. It will also integrate the Rail Baltica railway into the airport’s infrastructure, according to Skuodis.
Aurimas Stikliūnas, CEO of Lithuanian Airports, stressed at the reconstruction launch event that the development of the terminals at Vilnius Airport has so far been done in the wrong way, expanding towards the airfield rather than parallel to the entire airport area. Meanwhile, the new one will solve capacity and other problems.
“The new terminal will be a platform for innovation. [...] We have worn-out infrastructure, our terminals are coming apart at the seams. But in two years’ time, travellers will be able to go through all the checks more smoothly,” Stikliūnas said.
The reconstruction will also affect parking lots and transport infrastructure linking the airport to the city.
The new building will have two floors, with a check-in area and a self-service area on the ground floor. There will also be common public spaces, cafes and other commercial areas and airline offices.
Earlier this year, Lithuanian Airports and Transport Minister Skuodis suggested that the arrivals terminal, which is currently fronting the airport, should be demolished and replaced with a new building. However, a proposal to rebuild both the departures and the arrivals terminals has been rejected.
