Prishtina International Airport Adem Jashari ( sq, Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Prishtinës Adem Jashari, ), also referred to as Pristina International Airport ( sq, Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Prishtinës), is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

Prishtina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. The airport is located southwest of the city of Pristina, Kosovo. The airport has flights to numerous European destinations. The airport is the only port of entry for air travelers to

. It is named in honor

Adem Jashari Adem Jashari (born Fazli Jashari; 28 November 1955 – 7 March 1998) was one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a Kosovo Albanian separatist militia which fought for the secession of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yu ...

, the founder of the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the ...

. Pristina International Airport serves as an operating base for

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-haul ...

from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and, formerly,

Adria Airways Adria Airways d.o.o. (formerly ''Inex-Adria Aviopromet'' and later ''Inex-Adria Airways'') was the flag carrier of Slovenia, operating scheduled and charter services to European destinations. The company's head office was at Ljubljana Jože Pučn ...

from

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

History

The airport was originally built as

Slatina Air Base Slatina Air Base ( sq, Aeroporti Sllatina; sr, Аеродром Слатина / Aerodrom Slatina), located at Pristina International Airport Adem Jashari, contained the second largest military underground hangar complex in the former Yugoslavia ...

, containing the second-largest military underground hangar complex in Yugoslavia. From 12 to 26 June 1999, there was a brief but tense stand-off between

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the Russian

Kosovo Force The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO-led international NATO peacekeeping, peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Its operations are gradually reducing until Kosovo Security Force, Kosovo's Security Force, established in 2 ...

in which Russian troops occupied the airport. A contingent of 200 Russian troops deployed in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

then crossed into Kosovo and occupied the airport in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

, the capital city of Kosovo. The

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

and the passenger terminal were renovated and expanded in 2002 and again in 2009. In June 2006, Pristina International Airport was awarded the ''Best Airport 2006 Award ''by

Airports Council International Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of airport authorities aimed at unifying industry practices for airport standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its members ...

(ACI). Winning airports were selected for excellence and achievement across a range of disciplines including airport development, operations, facilities, security and safety, and customer service. On 12 November 2008, Pristina International Airport received for the first time in its history the annual one-millionth passenger (excluding military). A special ceremony was held at the airport where the one-millionth passenger received a free return ticket to a destination of his choice served by the airport. In late 2010, the airport was renamed from Pristina International Airport to Pristina International Airport Adem Jashari, the founder of the

, which fought for the secession of

from the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

during the 1990s. Due to the ongoing dispute between

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and

, flights to and from Pristina International Airport are impacted by the refusal of ATC in Serbia, namely SMATSA, to allow overflights via Serbian airspace. This ultimately results in flight paths avoiding Serbian territory with flights to Pristina having to enter via Albanian or Macedonian airspace. This dispute can generally add up to 30 minutes to a flight duration and discussions to overcome this dispute have so far failed. Being the only operational airport in the immediate region, any diversions would ultimately have to go to either

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, or

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, given that the Gjakova Airport is still a closed facility.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Pristina:

Statistics

Ground transportation

Car

The airport is linked with the M-9 motorway, which connects with the R7 motorway.

Taxi

Taxis from the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

to Pristina are available.

Bus

The airport can be reached from the city center, via the 1A bus route, which departs from the

Prishtina Bus Station Prishtina Bus Station is the main bus station in Prishtina, Kosovo, 2 km south-west of the city, near Bill Clinton Boulevard. Prishtina bus station is composed by a bus depot and bus terminals, responsible to provides transport to the rest o ...

every two hours.

Accidents and incidents

* On November 12, 1999,

Si Fly Flight 3275 Si Fly Flight 3275 (KSV3275) was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from the Italian capital of Rome to Pristina, Kosovo. The flight was operated by Italian airliner Si Fly using an ATR 42-300 series. On 12 November 1999, the aircraft ...

crashed while approaching the airport after a flight from Rome International Airport, killing all 24 occupants. * On January 19, 2006, a

Slovak Air Force The Slovak Air Force, known since 2002 as the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Vzdušné sily Ozbrojených síl Slovenskej republiky), is the aviation and air defense branch of the Slovak Armed Forces. Operating 23 aircr ...

, Antonov, An-24 crashed over

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

after departing from Pristina International Airport. (See, 2006 Slovak Air Force Antonov-24 Crash)

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* *
Civil Aviation Authority of Kosovo
* * {{authority control Airports in Kosovo 1965 establishments in Yugoslavia Airports established in 1965 Buildings and structures in Pristina Transport in Pristina District