Lithuania focused on having more flights to Germany – minister
Germany is a priority destination when it comes to expanding flight connections from Lithuania, Transport Minister Marius Skuodis said on Thursday, adding that Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU) is holding talks with airlines.
“Germany is currently the focus in negotiations between airports and airlines. Since the airports have all the necessary tools today, I do have high expectations for the outcome,” he told the Žinių Radijas radio station.
The aim is to attract airlines in order to offer flights to strategic transport hubs in Germany, including Hamburg and Dusseldorf, and more frequent flights to Berlin, according to Skuodis.
“Our focus is definitely on some of Germany’s strategic hubs,” the minister said.
“We have a connection to Munich and its frequency will only increase in the future,” he said. “We would like to have flights to Hamburg [...] and Dusseldorf, and of course, we also need a higher frequency [of connections] to Berlin.”
Germany is leading NATO’s multinational battalion stationed in Lithuania and is planning to deploy a combat brigade in the country in the coming years.
In late October, the Transport Ministry, the Economy Ministry, and Vilnius City Municipality signed a tripartite agreement on a list of destinations important for business and inbound tourism and on measures to promote flights to and from Vilnius.
The agreement calls for allocating around 10 million euros for the purpose in 2024.
It lists 27 priority destinations, 23 of which are from Vilnius. These include New York, Brussels, Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, and others.