Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza

Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza (Albanian: Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Tiranës Nënë Tereza, IATA: TIA, ICAO: LATI), 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, its metropolitan area, and surrounding region in the county of Tirana. The airport is named in honour of the Albanian Roman Catholic nun and missionary, Mother Teresa (1910–1997). It is located 6 nautical miles (11 kilometres; 6.9 miles) northwest of Tirana, in the municipality of Krujë, Durrës County.[5][6] It offers international connections primarily within Europe, with the most frequent routes to Milan, Rome, London and Bergamo.

Tirana International Airport
Mother Teresa

Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Tiranës
Nënë Tereza
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorTirana International Airport SHPK and Kastrati Group[1]
ServesTirana, Tirana County, Albania
LocationRinas, Durrës County, Albania
Hub for
Focus city forRyanair
Elevation AMSL108 ft / 33 m
Coordinates41°24′53″N 19°43′14″E
Websitetirana-airport.com
Map
TIA is located in Albania
TIA
TIA
Location in Albania
TIA is located in Mediterranean
TIA
TIA
Location in the Mediterranean
TIA is located in Europe
TIA
TIA
Location in Europe
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 2,750 9,022 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers5,195,550[2]
Passenger change 21–22Increase 78.9%
Aircraft movements39,062[2]
Movements change 21–22Increase 48.3%
Source: Albanian AIP at EUROCONTROL[3] LATI Airport record[4]

The airport serves as the main hub for the country's flag carrier, Air Albania, and also for both Albawings and Wizz Air.[7] The airport offers regularly scheduled passenger services. it is the largest and busiest airport in Albania and the seventh busiest Balkan 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. Tirana 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 began servicing Tirana, Shkodër, Korçë and Vlorë. 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.[8] In 1938, the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced regular commercial flights linking Tirana with Belgrade, Serbia, with a landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia.[9]

After the Second World War and installation of an isolationist communist regime in Albania, air transportation was rare. From 1944 to 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.[8] From 1953 to 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, 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.[8]

With the collapse of communism in Albania in 1991 and subsequent liberalisation of travel restrictions abroad for Albanians, 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.[8]

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.[10]

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.[11] The expansion resulted in an increased number of passengers per annum, estimated at 1.5 million passengers for 2009.[12][13] The number of passengers effectively increased to more than 1.5 million in 2010.[14]

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.[15]

In December 2016, the Airport announced that it served 2 million passengers during 2016, reaching its second milestone.[16]

Ownership

In 2017, China Everbright Limited 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 operation of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza to China Everbright Limited,[17] a company specializing in asset management, direct investment, brokerage and investment banking.[18] 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:

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Athens
Seasonal: Heraklion
Air Albania[19] Bologna, Istanbul, Milan–Malpensa, Pisa, Verona
Seasonal: Antalya,[20] London–Stansted
Seasonal charter: Bodrum,[20] Lisbon,[21][22] Porto[21][22]
airBaltic Seasonal: Riga (begins 2 May 2024)[23]
Air Cairo Seasonal charter: Cairo, Hurghada,[24] Sharm El Sheikh[24]
Air France Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle[25]
Air Montenegro Seasonal charter: Sarajevo[26]
Air Serbia[27] Belgrade
Albawings Ancona, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Perugia, Pisa, Venice, Verona
Seasonal: London–Stansted, Milan–Malpensa
Austrian Airlines Vienna
British Airways London–Heathrow[28]
Buzz Seasonal charter: Katowice,[29] Kraków,[30] Poznań,[30] Riga,[31] Vilnius,[32] Wrocław[30]
Corendon Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya
easyJet Seasonal: Geneva
Enter Air Seasonal charter: Gdańsk,[30] Katowice,[30] Warsaw–Chopin,[33] Wrocław
Eurowings Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf,[34] Stuttgart[35]
flydubai Dubai–International[36]
flynas Seasonal: Dammam,[37] Jeddah,[38] Riyadh[39]
Freebird Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya, Bodrum
Gulf Air Seasonal charter: Bahrain[40]
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid (begins 28 March 2024)[41]
Israir Airlines Seasonal: Tel Aviv[42]
ITA Airways Rome–Fiumicino
Jazeera Airways Seasonal: Kuwait City[43]
LOT Polish Airlines[44] Warsaw–Chopin
Seasonal: Warsaw–Radom[45]
Seasonal charter: Katowice
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich[46]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Copenhagen,[47] Oslo
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Ryanair Beauvais (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Bergamo (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Bologna (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Bucharest–Otopeni (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Catania (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Charleroi (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Edinburgh (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Kraków (begins 31 October 2023),[48] London–Stansted (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Manchester (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Pisa (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Prague (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Rome–Ciampino (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Stockholm–Arlanda (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Treviso (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Warsaw–Modlin (begins 31 October 2023),[48] Weeze (begins 1 November 2023)[48]
Smartwings Seasonal: Prague
Seasonal charter: Bratislava,[49] Brno,[49] Budapest,[50] Gdańsk, Poznań,[51] Rzeszów, Warsaw–Chopin[52]
SunExpress Seasonal: Antalya,[53] İzmir (begins 4 June 2024)[54]
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
Transavia Amsterdam (resumes 3 April 2024)[55]
Seasonal: Paris–Orly
TUI fly Belgium Brussels
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi,[56] Ancona,[57] Athens,[58] Barcelona,[59] Bari, Basel/Mulhouse, Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Brindisi,[60] Budapest, Bucharest–Otopeni (begins 29 October 2023),[61] Catania, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn,[59] Comiso,[62] Dortmund, Eindhoven, Genoa,[57] Hahn, Hamburg, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Kraków (begins 18 December 2023),[61] Lamezia Terme,[60] Leipzig/Halle (begins 1 October 2024),[63] London–Luton, Lyon,[64] Madrid,[65] Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa, Naples,[60] Nuremberg,[64] Perugia,[57] Pescara,[57] Pisa, Prague (resumes 18 December 2023),[61] Rimini, Rome–Fiumicino, Stockholm–Skavsta, Treviso, Trieste,[60] Turin, Valencia (begins 1 June 2024),[63] Venice (begins 29 October 2023),[63] Verona, Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin[64]
Seasonal: Gdańsk,[66] Katowice,[67] Malmö, Nice,[68] Poznań,[66] Sandefjord, Wrocław[64]

Statistics

Traffic
Annual passenger traffic at TIA airport. See Wikidata query.
Passenger, aircraft operations and cargo statistics at Nënë Tereza Airport
Year Passengers Change Aircraft Operations Change Cargo
(metric tons)		 Change
2005785,000Increase20.77%15,400N.A.N.A.N.A.
2006906,103Increase15.43%15,856Increase 2.96%2,435N.A.
20071,105,770Increase22.04%18,258Increase15.15%3,832Increase57.37%
20081,267,041Increase14.58%19,194Increase 5.13%2,497Decrease34.84%
20091,394,688Increase10.07%20,064Increase 4.53%2,265Decrease 9.29%
20101,536,822Increase10.19%20,768Increase 3.51%2,355Increase 3.97%
20111,817,073Increase18.24%22,988Increase10.69%2,656Increase12.78%
20121,665,331Decrease 8.35%20,528Decrease10.70%1,875Decrease29.41%
20131,757,342Increase 5.53%19,942Decrease 2.85%2,164Increase15.41%
20141,810,305Increase 3.02%17,928Decrease 3.02%2,324Increase13.53%
20151,997,044Increase 10.3%20,876Increase 16.4%2,229Decrease4.1%[6]
20162,195,100Increase 9.9%22,352Increase 7.1%2,200Decrease1%[69]
20172,630,338Increase 19.8%24,336Increase 9%2,266Increase3%[2]
20182,947,172Increase 12%25,462Increase 3%2,245Decrease 0.9%[70]
20193,338,147Increase 13%28,270Increase 11%2,372Increase 5%[71]
20201,310,614Decrease 60,7%15,280Decrease 46,8%1,796.8Decrease 24.3%[72]
20212,923,533Increase 123.1%26,152Increase 73%1,983Increase 10%[73]
20225,198,550[74]Increase 78.9%38,517Increase 48.3%2,064.7Increase 1.4%[75]
(30.09) 20235,366,476Increase 36,5%N.A.N.A.[76]

Busiest routes
Most frequent routes at Tirana Airport
Rank Destination Airport(s) Number of
Passengers
2022[74]		 Top carriers
1 United Kingdom London LHR, LTN, STN 463,451 Air Albania, Albawings, British Airways, Wizz Air
2 Italy Milan MXP 326,301 Air Albania, Albawings, Wizz Air
3 Italy Rome FCO 259,658 ITA Airways, Wizz Air
4 Italy Bergamo BGY 253,347 Albawings, Wizz Air
5 Turkey Istanbul IST, SAW 249,248 Air Albania, Pegasus Airlines
6 Austria Vienna VIE 212,946 Austrian Airlines, Wizz Air
7 Italy Bologna BLQ 209,120 Air Albania, Albawings, Wizz Air
8 Italy Pisa PSA 207,782 Air Albania, Albawings, Wizz Air
9 Italy Verona VRN 170,824 Air Albania, Albawings, Wizz Air
10 Germany Frankfurt FRA 162,390 Lufthansa

Top carriers
RankCarrierMarket share (2022[74])
1Hungary Wizz Air58%
2Albania Air Albania10%
3Albania Albawings7%
4Germany Lufthansa4%
5Austria Austrian Airlines3%
6Turkey Pegasus Airlines3%
Routes by country
Rank Destination Number of
Passengers
2022[74]
1 Italy Italy 2,172,993
2 Germany Germany 737,472
3 United Kingdom United Kingdom 483,743
4 Turkey Turkey 329,842
5 Poland Poland 213,078
6 Austria Austria 212,946
7 France France 157,305
8 Greece Greece 139,345
9 Belgium Belgium 119,755
10 Spain Spain 118,673

Ground transport
Taxi rank at the airport
SH60 linking Tirana Airport with SH2 Tirana-Durrës Highway

The airport is linked with motorway SH60 10 nautical miles (19 kilometres; 12 miles) away to SH2 Durres -Tirana 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.[77] The shuttle runs an hourly service between the Airport and the back of the Opera building in the centre of Tirana.

Rail

A new electrified light rail train line is being built between Tirana and Durres with a link to Tirana Airport planned to be completed by 2024-25.[78]

Incidents and accidents
  • 3 October 2006: Turkish Airlines Flight 1476, flying from Tirana to Istanbul, 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, 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.[79][80]
  • 9 April 2019: An Austrian Airlines flight headed to Vienna 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.[81]

See also

References
  1. "Zyrtarizohet kalimi i Aeroportit të Rinasit te "Kastrati group", për 71 milionë euro" [The transfer of Rinas Airport to "Kastrati group" is made official, for 71 million euros] (in Albanian). Top Channel. 25 December 2020.
  2. Tirana International Airport. "Air Traffic Report 2019" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  3. "EAD Basic - Error Page". EUROCONTROL. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  4. "Airport record for Nënë Tereza/Rinas International Airport". Landings.com. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  5. Wragg, David (November 2009). The World's Top 500 Airports (2 ed.). Somerset, UK: Haynes Holdings. p. 13. ISBN 978-184425-632-7.
  6. "Facts and Figures about Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza". www.tirana-airport.com.
  7. "Wizz Air announces 55 new routes and three new bases from this summer". anna.aero. 1 June 2020.
  8. Elsie, Robert (2010). Historical dictionary of Albania (2 ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7380-3. OCLC 659564122.
  9. "DRUSTVO ZA VAZDUSNI SAOBRACAJ A D – AEROPUT (1927-1948)". europeanairlines.no. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2010. In addition, a new air service (No.2008) to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's small narbour (sic, probably neighbor), Albania, was opened. From August, Aeroput flew from Beograd with a landing at Ragusa to Tirana, the capital of Albania.
  10. "HOCHTIEF AirPort Signs Concession Agreement for Tirana Airport". hochtief.com. Retrieved 15 October 2004. The agreement, signed today in the presence of the Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano in Tirana, seals the airport takeover in the context of a BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) concession with a duration of 20 years.
  11. "HOCHTIEF AirPort Signs Concession Agreement for Tirana Airport". hochtief.com. Retrieved 15 October 2004. Construction work for a new terminal is to commence right from the first year of operation.
  12. "Tirana International Airport". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  13. "Tirana International Airport, Albania". HOCHTIEF. Archived from the original on 23 April 2011.
  14. "Facts and Figures about Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza". tirana-airport.com. Traffic Results: 2010 Passengers - 1,536,822
  15. "TIRANA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT" (PDF). tirana-airport.com. p. 9. The tall, bright and spacious building, designed by the renowned Malaysian architect Hin Tan, is a symbol of Albania's new self-confidence.
  16. "Tirana International Airport reaches two millionth passenger milestone". ata.gov.al. Retrieved 3 December 2016. Tirana International Airport (TIA) announced on Friday the achievement of two major passenger traffic milestones in welcoming its two millionth passenger and recording the largest ever number of customers served at the airport.
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  68. "Wizzair : Lancia altre rotte per l'estate". 21 December 2021.
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  73. "Route Report 2021" (PDF). Tirana International Airport. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
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  75. "Statistikat e transportit" (PDF). INSTAT. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  76. "TIA statistics" (PDF).
  77. "Bus - Tirana International Airport". www.tirana-airport.com. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  78. https://www.incspa.com/project/rehabilitation-of-the-durres-tirana-railway-line/
  79. Times, Tirana (30 June 2016). "Spectacular airport robbery raises national security concerns". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
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