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Kaunas Airport

Coordinates: 54°57′50″N 24°05′05″E / 54.96389°N 24.08472°E / 54.96389; 24.08472
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Kaunas Airport

Kauno Oro uostas
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerMinistry of Transport and Communications
OperatorSE "Lithuanian Airports"
ServesKaunas, Lithuania
LocationKarmėlava
Opened1988
Hub forRyanair
Elevation AMSL259 ft / 79 m
Coordinates54°57′50″N 24°05′05″E / 54.96389°N 24.08472°E / 54.96389; 24.08472
Websitekaunas-airport.lt
Map
KUN is located in Lithuania
KUN
KUN
Location in Lithuania
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
08/26 3,250 10,663 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers total1,160,591
Passenger change 18–19Increase14.8%
Aircraft movements total9,888
Movements change 18–19Increase4.6%
Cargo (tonnes) total3,196
Cargo change 18–19Increase37.2%
Sources: Kaunas Airport[1] and AZ world airports[2]

Kaunas Airport (Lithuanian: Kauno tarptautinis oro uostas) (IATA: KUN, ICAO: EYKA) is the second-busiest civil airport in Lithuania after Vilnius Airport and the fourth-busiest in the Baltic states. The airport is located in the central part of the country, 14 km (8.7 mi) northeast of the Kaunas city centre and 100 km (62 mi) west from the capital Vilnius.

History

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Kaunas Airport started operations in 1988[citation needed] when airport activities were moved from the historic S. Darius and S. Girėnas Airport, located in the central part of Kaunas city. In 1991, after Lithuania restored its independence, the airport gained the status of an international airport and in 1996 it became a member of Airports Council International[citation needed] and began to take part in the activities of the "Lithuanian Airports" association.

Kaunas Airport was used by YAK-40, and YAK-42 of the local Aeroflot branch since 1988. The flight range was moderate and there were some scheduled flights from Kaunas to Kyiv, Kharkiv, Moscow, Odessa, Simferopol, and Šiauliai. Regional airline Air Lithuania based in Kaunas operated scheduled and charter flights from Kaunas to Budapest, Billund, Hamburg, Malmö, and Oslo from 1993 until 2004.[citation needed]

Ryanair started operating flights to Kaunas in 2004. In 2006 it announced establishment of its base in Kaunas. At the beginning of 2013, Ryanair invested more than 3 million euros in a new aircraft maintenance and repair hangar in Kaunas, which currently employs 220 people (2018 data). The airline is further expanding its aircraft maintenance activity at Kaunas Airport, with a planned further investment of 1.6 million euros, which will allow the servicing of twice as many aircraft. The company intends to employ 40 additional aviation mechanics, and the employment strategy is based on the company's collaboration with the Kaunas School of Mechanics at Kaunas University of Technology in order to prepare necessary specialists and invite students for traineeships.[3]

Air Baltic operated Riga - Kaunas daily flights in 2006-2008 and 2009–2014, sometimes reaching up to two daily flights.[citation needed]

Wizzair operated a Kaunas - Warsaw - London Luton route for a short period of time in 2005. The airline returned to Kaunas in 2012.[citation needed][4]

Two temporary terminals were in operation in 2017, when Vilnius Airport was closed for reconstruction and flights transferred to Kaunas.[5][6]

LOT Polish Airlines started operating six weekly flights to Kaunas International from Warsaw Chopin Airport on 21 May 2018.[7]

Overview

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Departures hall
Inside the terminal building
Ramp view
Immigration stamp at Kaunas Airport

Ownership

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The airport is owned and operated by the State-owned enterprise Kauno Aerouostas, and is fully governable to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In May 2013, the Government announced about the plans to merge Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga airports into one company and the plans were approved by the Lithuanian parliament in November 2013. The merger took place in 2014.[8]

Operations

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Ryanair is the main passenger carrier at the airport, and has gradually expanded its network there since 2005 when the airline first landed at the airport. In 2010, Kaunas Airport became the first airline's base in Eastern Europe and this resulted a more-than-doubled-route network expansion at the airport. The airport reported 77% growth in passenger traffic that year and also won the EURO ANNIES 2011 prize awarded by a weekly aviation e-journal anna.aero as being the fastest-growing airport in Europe in the category of under one million passengers.[9]

Catchment area

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Almost a quarter of all passenger flow at the airport are travellers from the neighbouring countries Latvia, Belarus and Poland.[10]

Infrastructure

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Terminal building

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In 2008 the new three-storey terminal building was opened for passenger operations. The 7,573-square-metre (81,520 sq ft) building can handle 800,000 passengers per year and the maximum capacity has been already reached in 2010, three years after the opening. The simple linear terminal design allows further expansions both ways.

The ground level is designated arrival area and fully complies with Schengen regulations. There are all essential facilities for arriving passengers, including bureau de change and car rental offices. The upper two levels are for departing passengers only. All 12 check-in desks are located on the first floor, where the passengers flow is separated to Schengen and non-Schengen departure zones through the security areas located on the first and second floors. The airport is not equipped with air bridges which suits the preference of airport's biggest client Ryanair of boarding and disembarking with steps.

The terminal facilities also include airline ticket offices, tourism agents, several shops, bars and cafes throughout the airport.

Runway and apron

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The runway of Kaunas Airport is 3,250 m (10,663 ft) long and 45 m (148 ft) wide, and is categorized with a 4E ICAO reference code. This enables to handle aircraft with up to 45 m (148 ft) wing span [citation needed] and 14 m (46 ft) main gear wheel span, which includes planes the size of a Boeing 747 or Antonov An-124. The runway is oriented along the dominant direction of western winds; it is also equipped with CAT II ILS equipment, which allows it to receive aircraft with close-to-minimum-visibility meteorological conditions.[citation needed]

Theoretical runway average capacity, when aircraft are landing or taking off, is 12 operations per hour.[11] A new taxiway to improve the runway system was built in 2009. Further taxiway improvement works started in June 2013, expanding the southern part of the airport to construct a new 190 m (623 ft)-long and 23.2 m (76 ft)-broad runway by the end of 2014.[12]

Maintenance facilities

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Ryanair operates its own maintenance hangar at Kaunas Airport, which launched operations in January 2013. It can accommodate one aircraft at a time and performs C-type maintenance checks. The same year Ryanair has set to double its MRO capabilities at the airport and began construction of the second hangar in Kaunas.[13]

FL Technics has announced its plans to invest almost 4 million US dollars into high-tech aircraft maintenance equipment at its newly launched MRO hangar in Kaunas. The latest equipment will support FL Technics MRO centre in servicing both narrow and wide body modern aircraft, including Boeing 747 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Following the full implementation, of the investment strategy, the new FL Technics base in Kaunas will create almost 300 new jobs, including over 200 places for aircraft mechanics, engineers and other aviation technical personnel.[14]

Airlines and destinations

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The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Kaunas Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Corendon Europe Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv[15]
Freebird Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya[16]
Ryanair[17][18] Alicante, Bari, Belfast–International,[19] Bergamo,[20][21] Berlin,[22] Bratislava, Bristol, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh,[23] Liverpool, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Málaga, Paphos, Shannon, Stockholm–Arlanda, Warsaw–Modlin
Seasonal: Burgas, Charleroi,[24] Gothenburg,[24] Madrid,[24] Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa,[22] Rimini, Rhodes, Zadar[25][26]
SkyUp Seasonal charter: Heraklion[27]
Wizz Air London–Luton

Statistics

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The passenger traffic changes in late 2011 and early 2012 at Kaunas Airport are associated with the rivalry between Ryanair and Wizzair. As a response to the Wizzair's new base established at Vilnius Airport in Spring 2011, the Irish low-cost carrier moved Girona and Milan Bergamo routes from Kaunas to Vilnius in late 2011.[28] In November 2012, Ryanair further cut route geography from Kaunas, by transferring Brussels Charleroi, Leeds, Liverpool, London Luton and Oslo Rygge to Vilnius, leaving only four routes available from Kaunas for the entire winter 2012/13 season.[29] Some of the routes were restored in Summer 2013, including seasonal destinations.

Annual passenger traffic at KUN airport. See Wikidata query.
Traffic numbers at Kaunas Airport
Year
Passengers
handled
Passenger
% change
Cargo
(tonnes)
Cargo
% change
Aircraft
movements
Aircraft
% change
2000 19,202 Steady 6,771 Steady 4,190 Steady
2001 20,137 Increase4.9 9,517 Increase40.6 4,409 Increase5.2
2002 19,891 Decrease1.2 8,478 Decrease10.9 3,957 Decrease10.3
2003 21,732 Increase9.3 6,673 Decrease21.3 4,077 Increase3.0
2004 27,113 Increase24.8 3,569 Decrease46.5 4,832 Increase18.5
2005 77,350 Increase185.3 4,308 Increase20.7 4,611 Decrease4.6
2006 248,228 Increase220.9 6,862 Increase59.3 4,865 Increase5.5
2007 390,881 Increase57.5 6,816 Decrease0.7 6,089 Increase25.2
2008 410,000 Increase4.9 3,400 Decrease50.1 5,698 Decrease6.4
2009 456,698 Increase11.4 2,113 Decrease37.9 6,027 Increase5.8
2010 809,732 Increase77.3 4,449 Increase110.6 8,753 Increase45.2
2011 872,618 Increase7.8 4,221 Decrease5.1 9,168 Increase4.7
2012 830,268 Decrease4.9 3,364 Decrease20.3 8,559 Decrease6.6
2013 695,509 Decrease16.2 2,112 Decrease37.2 7,312 Decrease14.6
2014 724,315 Increase4.14 2,060 Decrease2.45 7,191 Decrease1.65
2015 747,284 Increase3.17 4,703 Increase128.30 7,438 Increase3.43
2016 740,540 Decrease0.9 2,488 Decrease47.1 7,622 Increase2.20
2017 1,186,074 Increase37.56 3,365 Increase26.0 11,731 Increase35.03
2018 1,011,067 Decrease14.76 2,330 Decrease30.8 9,453 Decrease19.41
2019 1,160,591 Increase14.78 3,196 Increase37.2 9,888 Increase4.6

Most frequent routes

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Top 5 most frequent routes from Kaunas as of August 2022[30]
Rank City Flights per week
1 United Kingdom London Luton ~13
2 Denmark Copenhagen ~12
3 United Kingdom London Stansted ~5
4 Republic of Ireland Dublin ~5
5 Germany Cologne Bonn ~5

Ground transportation

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Motorway A1 near Kaunas
A bus stop at Kaunas Airport

Motorway

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Due to its central location in Lithuania, Kaunas Airport is easily accessible via nearby A6 highway/E262, which connects to the other main motorways in Lithuania A1 motorway (Lithuania) and Via Baltica (E67). Taxis take around 25 minutes to get to the city centre.

Bus

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Kaunas city centre is reachable by direct bus route no 29, operated daily by Kauno Autobusai. The express service 29E operates on the same route, but offers limited bus stops on the line. The direct intercity services to capital Vilnius and Lithuanian coastal city Klaipėda are also available from and to Kaunas Airport as well as regional low frequency bus links to and from Anykščiai, Biržai, Ignalina, Kupiškis, Marijampolė, Molėtai, Obeliai, Rokiškis, Širvintos, Utena, Visaginas and Zarasai.[citation needed]

The only international link to the airport is provided by Latvian operator Flybus, which runs the schedule to both Riga city centre and Riga International Airport. The services are based on the timetable of departing and arriving flights at Kaunas Airport.[citation needed]

Other facilities

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Main article: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

The airpark is a territory of Kaunas Free Economic Zone adjacent to Kaunas Airport (3 km (1.9 mi) border).[31]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kaunas Airport. "Technical Data". Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  2. ^ Ltd, A-Z Group. "A-Z World Airports Online - Lithuania airports - Kaunas Airport (KUN/EYKA)". www.azworldairports.com.
  3. ^ Invest Lithuania (13 September 2013), "Ryanair Invests in Kaunas Aircraft Maintenance Unit Expansion", Invest Lithuania, retrieved 24 December 2013
  4. ^ "Kaunas International Airport Assistance - JODOGO". www.jodogoairportassist.com. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Vilnius airport to close for runway reconstruction Thursday night".
  6. ^ "Kaunas temporarily becomes the capital city airport of Lithuania - Airport World Magazine". www.airport-world.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2017.
  7. ^ "LOT to Connect Kaunas and Warsaw". 6 December 2017.
  8. ^ Gudavičius, Stasys (7 November 2013), "Oro uostų sujungimas – patvirtintas", Verslo Žinios, retrieved 29 December 2013
  9. ^ anna.aero (19 May 2011), "EURO ANNIES 2011: Airport Awards", anna.aero, retrieved 24 December 2013
  10. ^ "Kaunas Airport: summer season was successful" (Press release). Kaunas Airport. 4 November 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  11. ^ International Transport Forum. "Assessment of strategic plans and policy measures on Investment and Maintenance in Transport Infrastructure" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  12. ^ Kauno Tiltai. "Development of Kaunas Airport. Designing and construction of a new taxiway and platform". Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  13. ^ Managing; Ed (20 March 2013), "Ryanair Adds Second Hangar and Forty New Jobs to Kaunas Maintenance Facility", The Lithuania Tribune, archived from the original on 26 December 2013, retrieved 25 December 2013
  14. ^ "FL Technics invests USD 4 million in high-tech aviation equipment" (Press release). FL Technics. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  15. ^ אזולאי, רואי (27 March 2024). "החל מה-21.5: קו ישיר מישראל לאחת הערים התוססות של צפון אירופה". פספורטניוז (in Hebrew). Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Novaturas Flights en". Novaturas flights. 3 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Ryanair website". Ryanair.com. [not specific enough to verify]
  18. ^ "Ryanair NS23 Network Additions Summary – 26MAR23". Aeroroutes.
  19. ^ https://centreforaviation.com/news/ryanair-launching-belfast-kaunas-service-from-late-oct-2024-1263361 [bare URL]
  20. ^ "Ryanair".
  21. ^ https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230918-frnw23
  22. ^ a b "Ryanair to fly from Kaunas to Berlin, Zadar, Pisa". 7 December 2023.
  23. ^ "Ryanair Moves Additional Routes to Ryanair UK in NS23". Aeroroutes.
  24. ^ a b c "Ryanair NW23 Network Changes – 17SEP23".
  25. ^ "Ryanair to launch New Routes from Banja Luka". 3 December 2023.
  26. ^ "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  27. ^ {{Cite web|url=https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/verslas/4/2206454/poilsiniu-kelioniu-pasirinkimas-dideja-startuos-uzsakomieji-skrydziai-tarp-kauno-ir-kretos%7Ctitle=Startuos užsakomieji skrydžiai tarp Kauno ir Kretos|access-date=3 March 2024|
  28. ^ anna.aero (23 February 2011), "Ryanair's new Vilnius routes will indirectly compete with Wizz Air on three routes, going head-to-head on Bergamo", anna.aero, retrieved 24 December 2013
  29. ^ "Changes at Kaunas Airport" (Press release). Kaunas Airport. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  30. ^ Flightradar24. "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map". Flightradar24. Retrieved 30 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ Invest Lithuania. "Airpark" (PDF). Retrieved 27 December 2013.
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Media related to Kaunas Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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