How Lithuania's Government Leaders Travel 

Latvian Prime Minister lost his job just because he preferred private charters instead of our Air Baltic.

I’ve actually been in a plane with president Dalia Grybauskaite and like 5 of her bodyguards. It was a simple Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Vilnius like 10 years ago.

Starting a conversation with somebody "important" in the seat next to me is the hardest thing I have ever done. But also might be the reason why politicians don't enjoy commercial aviation.

I think chartering an Airbua A220 from Air Baltic would be the best compromise. Maybe the government could pay up front to reserve priority charter access for one of Air Baltic's lovely Bombardier (Ooops - Airbus) airplanes...

The ex president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö used to always fly to meetings etc. By a Finnair or Norwegian airlinws commercial flight. It was cheap and safe.

I didn't know in Lithuania are using the C-27J to transport the government officials. In Bulgaria, C-27J is the main aircraft for medical flights. I guess a big business jet like Embraer ERJ family could do the job. Great video. I learn a lot about Lithuania from your videos.

Ireland Lear jet is over 30 years old and due to be replaced in the coming years. Currently there is a review of what options are available. The requirement is to carry 20 people 5000 kms.

The A321 XLR would be a fantastic choice. It has capacity for around 200 passengers, a range of 8700 kilometres so it can reach most parts of the world and its very new and modern while costing around 150 million USD. So I would say for the cost, Lithuania would get very good perks from it

That Netherlands Government BBJ has also caused a lot of discussion and is actually a second hand example...

I don't think flying comerciall airlines is any less safe than dedicated small jet.

On FlightCheck there is an AN-2 for sale in Poland which has been converted to be "Luxurious". I think that would be perfect for our president lol.

Its 8 am in Brooklyn, NY and I am watching a video on how Lithuania's government travel. I dont know where Lithuania is nor am I Lithuanian yet here I am. lolz

For me as a Lithunia this is really an embarsing situation. I have actually shared a flight (on Raynair) with Gabrielius Landsbergis (Minister of Foreighn Affairs). This is not embarrassing money-wise for me but It's embarrassing as some time ago, we were capable of building our own planes in Kaunas. At least right now, we should be able to afford just a little governmental fleet.

Hi from India

The moment of "unless huge oil/gas/gold/.. resources are found.." is very true.

Tuff question but the Air Ambulance one sounds excellent. Serves a very useful purpose and is available for the Head of State and others to use when appropriate. Don't need a brand new one as there are many suitable aircraft available in the _used plane lot_ and just need to find the right one for the right price. Maybe really only needed for zipping round Europe. Keep in mind I am looking at this from Downunder so I am not privy to the needs of Lithuania. It's also hard to justify multi-million €€€ outlay when you have less than a 3 Million population.

Slovak Government Flying Service replaced their Tu-154M and two Yak-40 with a second hand A319 ACJ and two F-100. The latest issue is the government officials using the airbus to fly to Euro football matches in Germany and when the press found out they claimed they flew to Germany for negotiations and discussions with Hungarian government officials...

I guess the best way is to carefully plan the trips and try to get the most done on each trip.

Having a dedicated aircraft, with luxurious interior, only for officials to occasionally use is nothing more but a huge waste of money. Which Lithuania doesn't have at the moment as equipping the military is much more important so they can defend the country had Putin became bored with Ukraine and wanted to 'play' elsewhere Also it is good that Canada and New Zealand governments have old and outdated aircraft as politicians do needed a reality check sometimes that they are not that better than the people they served

The Wizzair moment was eyebrow raising! Both cool and kinda funny, but I think Grybauskaitė owned it

No such thing as an easy answer to this, as optics and politics always seem to outweigh any sensible discussions about determining necessity. A note on the G700 and any other “biz jet”; the max range quoted is always with less than half load of pax. The purchase or dry lease cost of a plane is much lesser an issue than the full cost of running it. Nearly every country that has dedicated head of state jet transport have 2 of the big birds so that one is theoretically always available on call and not down for scheduled maintenance… even then a few years ago Germany had to send the chancellor on commercial flights via Barcelona to get to Argentina when one of their A330’s broke at the last minute. Maybe Lithuania could think outside the box and offer asylum to a disenchanted Russian oligarch who is willing to donate and fund the upkeep of an Airbus 😉

Falcon 50 - that's where it's at! +-$2million USD - versatile, fast, cool as crap! (my FAV business jet ever! One used to fly from KFCI when I was doing my flight training, and I LOVED that plane!) - anyway, Falcon 50 ... yes, please :)

As of the time of writing this comment latvias president is flying from athens to riga on airbaltic

But they only have one spartan?

its embarrassing but there is also not much need, Lithuania isnt really important in the world to speak yhe truth

what about all billionaires in 🇱🇹. they could come as donors to government needs not just hiding tax money

Pani Grzybowska