Airport, Construction, Legislation, Lithuania, Transport

The reconstruction project is likely to cost the airport slightly less than originally planned, it wrote.

"We are not linking this project to concession. We will carry out this project regardless of whether there is (concession) or not," the paper quoted Arturas Stankevicius, director of the Vilnius branch at Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, or LOU), the operator of the airports of Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga, as saying.

According to him, the runway is in such a state that minor repairing and patching of holes would not solve the problems and a complete overhaul is needed to ensure the safety of flights.

Therefore, the capital's airport will be closed for 35 days in July 2017, as originally planned, and the majority of flights will be temporarily moved to Kaunas, some 100 kilometers away from Vilnius.