Baltic airport race picks up 

Expansion projects are currently underway at airports across the Baltic region. COWI Baltic’s team is currently designing technical systems for a passenger terminal at Vilnius.

Lithuania’s national airline, flyLAL, unveiled plans this summer to build a passenger terminal at Vilnius International Airport.

Vilniaus Architektūros Studija, the local architecture studio commissioned to design the terminal, has already begun the preliminary sketches on the terminal and hired COWI Baltic to design the structure’s engineering systems.

While the entire project is being built for an undisclosed amount, COWI Baltic announced that its share of the contract is valued at EUR 500,000.

Photo: flyLAL
The new passenger terminal will serve as a hub for flyLAL, Lithuania's national airline.


Lucrative marketThe three major airports in the Baltic region have embarked on a series of expansion projects in recent years to capture a share of the rapidly growing air travel market. So far, Riga International Airport has come out as the regional leader with more than 3.1 million passengers per year.

The planned flyLAL terminal in Vilnius might change that, however. When the terminal enters service in spring 2011, capacity at Vilnius will increase to four million passengers from the current figure of 1.7 million.

Gediminas Žiemelis, the chairman of flyLAL’s group board, suggested on the airline’s website that the terminal would not only benefit the airport, but “the whole national economy” as well as Lithuania’s reputation abroad.


Top architecture firmThe chance to be part of such a pivotal project in Lithuania was welcomed by Peter Hostrup Rasmussen, vice president of COWI East EU.

“The increased air traffic demonstrates how Lithuania has become a central part of Europe,” says Rasmussen. "The project is a good example of the strength of having world class specialist services within airports and a strong local presence in the market.”

The ability of COWI Baltic’s team to deliver a full package of services provided an advantage in securing the bid, he adds: “It serves as a demonstration of our capacity as an international specialist in the discipline of building airports.”

COWI’s resume of international airports already includes projects in Oman, India, Bulgaria and Latvia.


First sketchesRaimondas Alisauskas, COWI Baltic’s project manager, reports that COWI has begun concept designs for a wide variety of components ranging from video surveillance to ventilation systems.

The Norwegian company Aviaplan, which COWI has used as a sub-contractor in the Oman airport projects, will also contribute to the project.

Published: 10.10.2008
By Uzi Frank
uzif@cowi.com