Lithuanian Airports has announced a major expansion at Kaunas Airport that will provide additional aircraft parking and engine-testing areas. Kaunas Airport is the second-busiest civil airport in Lithuania.
Lithuanian Airports has signed a design work contract with Kelprojektas, which will develop the project for expanding the northern apron at Kaunas Airport. There will be additional aircraft parking and engine-testing areas, raising the number of aircraft parking spaces at the airport by more than 50 percent. The design work contract is worth almost 89 thousand EUR (excl. VAT). The building permit is expected mid-February 2023, with contract works starting after that.
The northern apron is home to hangars for maintenance, repair and overhaul activities. The new apron will have an area of around 35,000 square metres.
Arnas Dūmanas, Head of the Infrastructure and Operations Department at Lithuanian Airports, said developing modern and safe infrastructure was one of the company’s strategic priorities. He further said that this northern apron development at Kaunas Airport would also benefit the operations at partner airports.
“By developing the infrastructure on the apron of Kaunas Airport, we will have the opportunity to reduce the load on the existing parking lots, while expanding the capacity to accommodate and park more aircrafts, which will improve the safety of operations. We will also be able to ensure safe aircraft engine testing in specially adapted, dedicated bays. In addition, by expanding the northern apron at Kaunas Airport, we are improving the opportunities and scope of operations with NATO forces, which have a large number of flights at Kaunas Airport.”
Mr Dūmanas said the additional aircraft parking spaces would benefit Kaunas Airport financially thanks to the additional revenue from aircraft parking charges.
Depending on the configuration in which aircraft are parked after the development, the apron could accommodate 14 Class C aircraft and one engine test site. If larger aircraft were parked, the total capacity would of course go down. Kaunas Airport currently has 24 aircraft parking bays on the apron.
After the design work is completed, the contract is to be put out to tender, likely in the Q1 of 2023. Contract works should then start in Q2 or Q3 of 2023.
Kaunas Airport is already a hub for aircraft maintenance and repair in the Baltic region. For example, Ryanair (subsidiary Kaunas Aircraft Maintenance Services), FL Technics, DAT and MAAS Aviation all already operate MRO activities at the airport.
In 2020, the apron of Kaunas Airport’s aerodrome was expanded through the installation of a taxiway measuring almost 15,000 square metres.
