LITHUANIA. A major programme of coffee shop openings has been completed at Lithuania’s busiest airport. Vilnius International has opened two Caffeine cafés, covering a combined 207sq m and offering 200 seats, and a grab-and-go Huracán Coffee outlet.
In sharing details of the new openings with The Moodie Davitt Report, Lithuanian Airports Head of Sales Gintarė Norvilaitė-Tautevičė also revealed that tenders for duty free, other shops and food & beverage locations are planned for Vilnius Airport, after a passenger terminal expansion project is completed.
The three new F&B openings come from well-known Lithuanian coffee shop brands. Caffeine is a national player with cafés throughout Lithuania and Huracán Coffee, owned and operated by JSC Albas, has seven cafés in Vilnius.
The new Caffeine outlets at the airport are both located airside, one with views of the apron (130sq m) and the other is in the non-Schengen zone (87sq m). Both cafés serve pre-made snacks, desserts and barista-brewed coffee.
“We believe that opening these two large cafés during the peak of pandemic is a huge sign of confidence in both Vilnius airport and the future of air travel as a whole,” Norvilaitė-Tautevičė said.
The final opening, from Huracán Coffee, is located in a 15.5sq m airside space in the Schengen zone. It offers a takeaway service – though there are two tables, with seating for eight people – for barista-made coffee, light snacks and pastries.
Asked about the current traffic situation at Vilnius Airport – which serves as a base for airBaltic, Ryanair and Wizz Air – Norvilaitė-Tautevičė replied: “Currently we have about 1,200 daily passengers, which is about 10% of normal passenger flow, compared with 2019. We expect a faster growth when the aviation summer season begins.”
The expanding airport had broken through the five million passenger barrier for the first time in 2019, but COVID-19 effects meant that number plummeted to just over 1.3 million last year.
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