Airport, Legislation, Lithuania, Transport

The president stressed that Lithuania attempted to have its own national airlines twice and both attempts were unsuccessful.

"Now we are very late to enter the international aviation market and nobody has proposed any model which would at least not cause losses, let alone allow earning some kind of profit. Therefore, it is not advisable to push the Government and the state into this loss-making business for the third time because all people of Lithuania would have to pay for it," the president told reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking about the suspension of Air Lituanica's activities, Grybauskaite noted that the company was a project of Vilnius Municipality rather than of the state and it did not manage to survive without subsidies.

"It was completely evident that such a company would not be capable of operating profitably. Now we would have to subsidise at least EUR 10 million, since a consumer pays a ticket price but the municipality must pay twice that price," she said.