ACL to manage Vilnius Airport slots
The contract commences for flights from the end of March, 2019, coinciding with the IATA summer timetable. Vilnius Airport instigated a move toward slot allocation as it swiftly moves to becoming an IATA Level 2 airport. It handled 3.8 million passengers last year, 3.3 million of them travelling on scheduled routes.
It has already seen a 17% traffic increase during the first half of 2018, compared with the corresponding period in 2017 and is on course to carry 4.7 million passengers by year end, equivalent to a 24% growth versus 2018.
Welcoming the new partnership with ACL, Dainius Ciuplys, Managing Director of Vilnius Airport commented: “We are delighted to start collaborating with a strong and experienced partner, Airport Coordination Limited. They will help us with our primary aim, which is to manage flight peaks and maximise the infrastructure of the airport, enabling us to deliver the best service for our passengers. ACL will help us to negotiate with airlines on take-off and landing slots to achieve the best result.”
“Vilnius Airport is introducing slot allocation at a time when existing airlines add frequency. The Baltics is a strong region for air traffic, experiencing popularity for travel – for tourism and business. We are looking forward to working with this dynamic, forward-thinking airport in Lithuania,” stated ACL’s Managing Director Mike Robinson.
This summer Vilnius Airport is supporting 60 scheduled routes, the majority of them year-round, with passenger growth led by low cost carriers Ryanair, Wizz Air and legacy airlines LOT, airBaltic, Finnair and Turkish Airlines, among others. This winter it welcomes additional new scheduled services to Amman, Marrakech and Treviso. This May Kazakhstan’s SCAT Airlines introduced flights to Astana.
Airport Cooperation Ltd (ACL) is the world’s first independent slot coordinator and is headquartered in Staines, Middlesex, near London Heathrow Airport. It supports 39 airports worldwide, including 24 London and regional airports in the UK; Dublin, Cork and Shannon in the Republic of Ireland; Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown and Wellington in New Zealand; Dubai International and Dubai World Central; Poland’s Poznan and Warsaw Airports, Luxembourg Airport and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
