Latvian construction company A.C.B. has won the tender to reconstruct the runway at Palanga Airport in Lithuania.

The runway reconstruction project will include the taxiway and some parts of the apron. Airport operations are likely to be suspended while the work is undertaken later this year (September and October 2021) for a period of around 45 days.

A.C.B. will carry out the work for €13.6 million and Lithuanian Airports expects to sign a contract with the Latvian construction firm once all the necessary procedures and verification processes have been carried  out. The airport operator hopes to confirm the contract in April.

According to Dainius Čiuplys, Head of Operations and Infrastructure Department  at Lithuanian Airports, “The runway of Palanga Airport was last reconstructed in 2007. This means that its life cycle is already nearing the end and investment in renovation is required. We are convinced that, with the recovery of the aviation industry, the strategically important airport of Lithuania’s coastal region will be popular and the demand to travel through it will definitely remain. This is evidenced by double-digit growth in the number of passengers handled by the airport before the pandemic. Our main task in the context of this project is to ensure that the recovery of aviation would take place with safe infrastructure and would generate added value for the whole region.”

While Lithuanian Airports had originally planned to finance the infrastructure works using its own funds, the impact of the pandemic on passenger traffic and revenue streams has meant that it is now working alongside the Ministry of Transport and Communications to seek an alternative funding source.

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