newstodate.aero
Dec 19, 2011 (newstodate): 2011 is drawing to its end while at least two projects for new airlines in Lithuania seem to have run into a deadlock.
First, plans for establishing a new Lithuanian airline, Lithuania Express to be based at Vilnius Airport are still on the ground after it was reported in July 2011 that Lithuania Express received a delegation from "a Chinese company" visiting Lithuania for negotiations with the projected carrier as well as Lithuanian authorities.
According to industry sources, plans included flights by a Chinese carrier from China, with Lithuanian Express to provide onward connections via Vilnius to European destinations including Keflavik, Dublin, Paris and Barcelona.
Behind the efforts is a project group headed by Icelandic national Thorsteinn Gudnason as Lithuania Express Project manager, and himself a member of the group of potential investors in the carrier.
Initially plans called for a start of operations from early 2010, but Mr Gudnason says today that there is "nothing to report right now".
In September 2010, another project for a Lithuanian carrier was revealed, driven by Bertolt Flick, now former airBaltic CEO, president and majority-owner through the investment company Baltic Aviation System, and Kristian Kirchheiner, former SAS executive and airBaltic's second president and CEO.
The original plan was to start operations from 2011 from Vilnius to Dublin, London, Paris, Munich, Rome, Warsaw, Istanbul and Moscow with a fleet initially comprising three Boeing 737 aircraft.
From 2012, new destinations were to include St Petersburg, Helsinki, Berlin, Budapest, Kiev, Copenhagen, Gdansk, Oslo, from 2013 Brussels, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Milan, and Malaga, and from 2015 Hamburg.
The fleet should gradually grow to comprise five Boeing 737 and five Bombardier Q400 aircraft.
The proposed start-up date was later revised to 2012, but no news on this project has also not surfaced lately.
First, plans for establishing a new Lithuanian airline, Lithuania Express to be based at Vilnius Airport are still on the ground after it was reported in July 2011 that Lithuania Express received a delegation from "a Chinese company" visiting Lithuania for negotiations with the projected carrier as well as Lithuanian authorities.
According to industry sources, plans included flights by a Chinese carrier from China, with Lithuanian Express to provide onward connections via Vilnius to European destinations including Keflavik, Dublin, Paris and Barcelona.
Behind the efforts is a project group headed by Icelandic national Thorsteinn Gudnason as Lithuania Express Project manager, and himself a member of the group of potential investors in the carrier.
Initially plans called for a start of operations from early 2010, but Mr Gudnason says today that there is "nothing to report right now".
In September 2010, another project for a Lithuanian carrier was revealed, driven by Bertolt Flick, now former airBaltic CEO, president and majority-owner through the investment company Baltic Aviation System, and Kristian Kirchheiner, former SAS executive and airBaltic's second president and CEO.
The original plan was to start operations from 2011 from Vilnius to Dublin, London, Paris, Munich, Rome, Warsaw, Istanbul and Moscow with a fleet initially comprising three Boeing 737 aircraft.
From 2012, new destinations were to include St Petersburg, Helsinki, Berlin, Budapest, Kiev, Copenhagen, Gdansk, Oslo, from 2013 Brussels, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Milan, and Malaga, and from 2015 Hamburg.
The fleet should gradually grow to comprise five Boeing 737 and five Bombardier Q400 aircraft.
The proposed start-up date was later revised to 2012, but no news on this project has also not surfaced lately.