Belarus balloon delivery service in Lithuania outpaces Amazon Prime: 6 times a year and free of charge

While we take romantic walks or watch storms at Liepāja's North Pier, our Lithuanian neighbors have discovered a new form of entertainment - balloon watching at the airport. Belarusian smugglers have proven so diligent that they've already 'visited' Vilnius airport six times this year with their airborne deliveries.

Just imagine - 87 passengers were unexpectedly rerouted to Copenhagen. 'I thought we were getting a free excursion,' commented one passenger. 'At least now I can say I've been to Denmark because of Belarusian balloons.' While Riga is still figuring out how to organize efficient air traffic, Belarus has been proving for years that their balloons can get where they need to go - even when nobody wants them there.

Last year, these aerial delivery specialists affected 300 flights and 47,000 passengers, which is a significantly better performance record than any Latvian Post office. 'We have declared a state of emergency,' announced the Lithuanian government, who apparently haven't heard about Liepāja's winter storms - here we don't declare emergencies even when trains don't run for a month.

'These balloons are a hybrid attack,' explain Lithuanian officials. While they worry about balloons, we in Liepāja have proven that the best defense against any airborne object is a good sea storm. Maybe Lithuanians should learn from our experience - build airports by the sea and let nature handle unwanted flying objects itself.