He said that the flight diversion was necessary to avoid thunderstorm activity.
The flight in question took off from Riga Airport at 23:50 on Tuesday 16 July and was scheduled to continue its journey in Polish airspace after crossing Lithuania, but at 00:34 the flight entered Belarusian airspace from Lithuania. The airBaltic plane was in Belarusian airspace for about 20 minutes, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported.
"In the given situation, a potential threat was identified - storm clouds with hail, turbulence, risk of lightning. It is worth mentioning here that going through a thunderstorm can have consequences - significant damage to the aircraft, and injuries to passengers as a result of turbulence," Zilberts explained.
To avoid it, Lithuanian air traffic controllers were asked to contact Belarus for permission to temporarily enter its airspace, he said.
"The permission was received, the storm clouds were cleared and the aircraft returned to European Union (EU) airspace at the first opportunity. This is the procedure required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules in the event of an emergency," Zilberts said.
Following the flight, the captain of the aircraft submitted a safety report in accordance with standard procedure, which was recorded in airBaltic's reporting system, and the relevant supervisory authorities were informed about the maneuver, Zilberts said.
Zilberts noted that, for example, aircraft of Russian operators also periodically enter the airspace of both Latvia and Lithuania when flying around thunderstorms.
EU airlines have been banned from using Belarusian airspace since June 2021. The ban was imposed after the Belarusian authorities forced a plane of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, en route from Athens to Vilnius, to land in Minsk on May 23 2021.
