Lithuanian Airports has picked local construction firm Eikos Statyba to build the new departure terminal at Vilnius Airport following the cancellation of a contract with Mitnija, the country’s largest contractor, in March 2021, a secondary tender in October 2021 and another retender following “legal challenges” in June.

Eikos Statyba had won an earlier tender for the project which was then scrapped owing to Covid-19 and increases in construction and materials prices.

It will build the 14,000-sq-m departure terminal and redevelop 34,000 sq m of the airport’s access roads for €41.5m.

This will increase the airport’s capacity from 900 to 2,400 passengers an hour.

Arnas Dūmanas, Lithuanian Airports’ head of operations and infrastructure, said: “Faced with legal challenges, we kept up our preparations for the new procurement: we held a public consultation and presented major changes to the procurement documents. As a result, we were able to quickly respond and successfully implement the new procurement.”

Almantas Čebanauskas, Eikos Statyba’s chief executive, said: “We appreciate the public sector’s ability to react quickly and flexibly in a changing geopolitical and economic situation, and to prioritise the development of such important national infrastructure projects regardless of the current situation.

“We believe that the experience gained in the construction of complex structures, including our already completed Vilnius Airport VIP terminal construction project, will significantly contribute to the successful implementation of the new terminal construction.”

Work on the project is due to be completed by the end of 2024.