Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza ( sq, Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Tiranës Nënë Tereza, ), often referred to as the Rinas International Airport, is one of the two main international airports of the Republic of Albania. It serves the city of

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, its metropolitan area, and surrounding region in the county of

. The airport is named in honour of the Albanian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

nun and missionary,

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

(1910–1997). It is located northwest of Tirana, in the municipality of

Krujë Krujë ( sq-definite, Kruja; see also the etymology section) is a town and a municipality in north central Albania. Located between Mount Krujë and the Ishëm River, the city is only 20 km north from the capital of Albania, Tirana. Kru ...

Durrës County Durrës County ( sq, Qarku i Durrësit), officially the County of Durrës ( sq, Qarku i Durrësit, italic=unset), is a county in the Northern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the smallest by area and the second most populous of the twe ...

. It offers international connections primarily within Europe, with the most frequent routes to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. The airport serves as the main hub for the country's flag carrier,

Air Albania Air Albania is the flag carrier of Albania. The airline maintains its hub and company headquarters at the Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza in Tirana, Albania. Founded in 2018, it operates scheduled air services for passengers to thirt ...

, and also for both

Albawings Albawings is an Albanian low-cost airline headquartered in Tirana and based at its hub at Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza. History Albawings was founded in February 2015. Albawings was awarded the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) by t ...

and

Wizz Air Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. ( hu, Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Zrt.) is a Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier with its head office in Budapest, Hungary. The airline serves many cities across Europe, as well as ...

. The airport offers regularly scheduled passenger services, it is the largest and busiest airport in Albania and the seventh busiest

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

airport. Albania's other main airport is Kukës International Airport located in the northeast of the country.

History

Early development

The airport was constructed from 1955 to 1957.

had commercial airline services before. Domestic aviation started in 1926 when German airline Adria-Aero-Lloyd obtained a monopoly for domestic air routes in the country and begin servicing Tirana,

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shko ...

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau som ...

and

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foo ...

. These operations proved unprofitable, and the airline sold its rights to Italian company Ala Littoria which opened regular routes in 1935 between Tirana to Shkodër, Kukës, Peshkopia, Kuçova, Vlorë, and Gjirokastra. In 1938, the Yugoslav carrier

Aeroput Aeroput () was an airline and flag carrier of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia from 1927 until 1948. Society for Air traffic List of legal entity types by country#Serbia, AD Aeroput was the first Serbian company for civil air traffic, which was ...

introduced regular commercial flights linking Tirana with

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

, Serbia with a landing in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

, Croatia. After the Second World War and installation of an isolationist

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

regime in Albania, air transportation was rare. From 1944 and 1948 there was a service to Belgrade, but after the break of relations with Yugoslavia, until 1953, there was only a twice-a-month connection to Budapest operated by Soviet-Hungarian company Maszovlet. From 1953 and 1955 there was no air service, until February 1955 when a route to Moscow was inaugurated, followed thereafter to other Eastern-European capitals. In the 1970s, Tirana was one of the first European cities to be served by China's

CAAC Airlines CAAC Airlines (), formerly the People's Aviation Company of China (中國人民航空公司), was the airline division of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the monopoly civil airline in the People's Republic of China. It was ...

, with a weekly flight to Beijing via Bucharest and Tehran. In the late 1980s there were six airlines flying to Tirana, with a total of nine round-trips per week. With the

collapse of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

in Albania in 1991 and subsequent liberalisation of travel restrictions abroad for

Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Ser ...

, the number of airlines operating at the airport increased rapidly. In 1999 there were 8,249 flights and 356,823 passengers, seven times more than in 1991.

Contemporary

The air traffic equipment and facilities of the airport have been heavily modernised, following investments by Tirana International Airport SHPK, a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort. Hochtief assumed management of the airport on 23 April 2005, for a 20-year concession period. The concession included the construction of a completely new passenger terminal and various infrastructure improvements, among them the construction of a new access road, new parking lots, and a bridge over the old airport access road. The expansion resulted in an increased number of passengers per annum, estimated at 1.5 million passengers for 2009. The number of passengers effectively increased to more than 1.5 million in 2010. The terminal building and its second expansion, the cargo building, its landscaping, and its carpark canopies were designed by Malaysian architect Hin Tan of Hintan. In December 2016, the Airport announced that it has served 2 million passengers during 2016, reaching its second milestone.

Ownership

In 2017

China Everbright Limited China Everbright Limited is a Hong Kong-based financial services company in asset management, investment and merchant bank in the Greater China region, including Mainland China and Hong Kong. It is part of the China Everbright Group, a state ...

became the sole owner of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza. After reaching an agreement with the Albanian Government to end its monopoly on international flights from Albania, Hochtief AirPort sold the operating of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza to China Everbright Limited, a company specializing in

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for, over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as buildings ...

direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct c ...

brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...

and

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

. On December 25, 2020, Kastrati Group bought all the shares of the airport from China Everbright Limited for 71 million euros.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular year-round and seasonal scheduled and charter flights to and from Tirana:

Statistics

Traffic

Busiest routes

Top carriers

Ground transport

The airport is linked with motorway SH60 away) to SH2 Durres -

access road. Taxis and car rental facilities are available at the airport. The journey from Tirana to the airport takes 20–25 minutes.

Bus

An airport bus, located outside Arrivals terminal, leaves on the hour every hour (6am to 2am), to the city centre, and the trip takes around 30 minutes. The shuttle runs an hourly service between the Airport and the back of the Opera building in the centre of Tirana.

Incidents and accidents

*3 October 2006:

Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 (TK1476) was a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-4Y0 flying from Tirana to Istanbul that was hijacked by Hakan Ekinci in Greek airspace on 3 October 2006. Ekinci demanded to go to Rome to speak with the Pope, but Greek and ...

, flying from

, was hijacked by Hakan Ekinci in Greek airspace. The aircraft, with 107 passengers and six crew on board, transmitted two coded hijack signals which were picked up by the Greek air force; the flight was intercepted by military aircraft and landed safely at

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

, Italy. *30 June 2016: Three armed and masked people entered the cargo terminal, where they stole a huge amount of money that was to be transported abroad on airplanes. The amount of cash could have been up to 3 million euros. The incident caused national security concerns. *9 April 2019: An

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its ...

flight headed to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

was delayed for 3 hours, following an armed robbery. The aircraft's engines were running, when three men wearing masks and military fatigues stepped up to the fuselage, stealing 6 million euros. One of the robbers was shot dead in an exchange of fire with the police about one kilometre from the airport.

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza 1957 establishments in Albania Airports established in 1957 Airports in Albania Buildings and structures in Durrës County Memorials to Mother Teresa Transport in Durrës County Transport in Tirana Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the European Theater China Everbright Group