Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza

Tirana International Airport 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, its metropolitan area, and surrounding region in the county of Tirana. The airport is named after the Albanian Roman Catholic nun and missionary, Mother Teresa. It is located northwest of Tirana, in the municipality of Krujë, Durrës County.
The airport is a hub for Wizz Air. It is the largest airport in Albania and is one of the busiest Balkan airports after reaching 10 million passengers in 2024. On 9 December 2024, the airport celebrated a major milestone by surpassing 10 million passengers.

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History

Early development

The present airport infrastructure at Rinas was constructed between 1955 and 1957. However, Tirana had been served by commercial aviation several decades earlier. Domestic air transport in Albania began in 1926, when the German airline **Adria-Aero-Lloyd** was granted a monopoly over internal air routes and commenced services linking Tirana with Shkodër, Korçë, and Vlorë. These operations proved financially unsustainable, and the airline subsequently transferred its rights to the Italian carrier Ala Littoria, which from 1935 operated regular domestic routes connecting Tirana with Shkodër, Kukës, Peshkopia, Kuçova, Vlorë, and Gjirokastër. In 1938, the Yugoslav airline Aeroput introduced scheduled international services linking Tirana with Belgrade, with an intermediate stop in Dubrovnik, thereby integrating Albania into the regional Balkan air network on a limited scale.
Following the Second World War and the establishment of an isolationist communist regime, international air transport to and from Albania became highly restricted. Between 1944 and 1948, limited services operated between Tirana and Belgrade, but after the rupture of relations with Yugoslavia, Albania's only scheduled international connection until 1953 consisted of infrequent flights to Budapest operated by the Soviet–Hungarian airline **Maszovlet**. From 1953 to early 1955, no regular civil air services operated. In February 1955, flights to Moscow were inaugurated, followed by connections to other Eastern European capitals, reflecting Albania's alignment within the socialist bloc. During the 1970s, Tirana was served by China's CAAC Airlines through a weekly long-haul service to Beijing via Bucharest and Tehran. By the late 1980s, a total of six airlines operated scheduled services to Tirana, offering approximately nine international round-trip flights per week.
Following the collapse of the communist regime in 1991 and the liberalisation of international travel for Albanian citizens, air traffic expanded rapidly.
By 1999, Tirana Airport recorded 8,249 aircraft movements and 356,823 passengers, representing a sevenfold increase in traffic compared with 1991 levels. Passenger volumes continued to rise steadily during the 2000s, exceeding 1.5 million annually by 2010, and reaching two million passengers per year by 2016. Growth accelerated markedly after 2020, with traffic surpassing 7.2 million passengers in 2023 and exceeding 10 million passengers in 2024, reflecting a sustained long-term expansion of civil aviation activity in Albania.

Contemporary

The air traffic equipment and facilities of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza have undergone extensive modernisation since the mid-2000s, following investments by Tirana International Airport SHPK, a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort. Hochtief assumed management of the airport on 23 April 2005 under a 20-year concession agreement structured as a build–own–operate–transfer arrangement. The concession programme included the construction of a completely new passenger terminal and a range of supporting infrastructure works, including a new access road, expanded parking facilities, and a bridge over the former airport access route. These investments significantly increased the airport's handling capacity, with passenger numbers reaching approximately 1.5 million by 2009 and exceeding that level in 2010. The terminal building, its subsequent expansion, the cargo facilities, associated landscaping, and car-park canopies were designed by Malaysian architect Hin Tan of Hintan. Passenger traffic continued to grow steadily in the following decade. In 2016, the airport reported serving two million passengers within a single calendar year for the first time. Growth accelerated markedly after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Tirana International Airport handled more than 7.2 million passengers, representing a substantial increase compared with both 2022 and pre-pandemic traffic levels in 2019. This trend continued in 2024, when the airport exceeded 10 million passengers for the first time, reflecting sustained expansion in airline operations and route connectivity.

Ownership

In 2017, China Everbright Limited became the sole owner of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza after acquiring the airport operator from Hochtief AirPort. The transaction followed an agreement with the Albanian Government to terminate the airport's long-standing monopoly on international flights from Albania. China Everbright Limited is an international financial services group active in asset management, direct investment, brokerage, and investment banking. On 25 December 2020, Kastrati Group acquired 100% of the shares of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza from China Everbright Limited for a reported price of €71 million, becoming the airport's owner and operator through its aviation subsidiary, **Kastrati Aviation Holding**, via Tirana International Airport SHPK.

Airlines and destinations

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

Statistics

Traffic

Year	Passengers	Change	Aircraft operations	Change	Cargo	Change
2005	785,000	20.77%	15,400	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
2006	906,103	15.43%	15,856	2.96%	2,435	N.A.
2007	1,105,770		18,258		3,832
2008	1,267,041	14.58%	19,194	5.13%	2,497	34.84%
2009	1,394,688	10.07%	20,064	4.53%	2,265	9.29%
2010	1,536,822	10.19%	20,768	3.51%	2,355	3.97%
2011	1,817,073	18.24%	22,988	10.69%	2,656	12.78%
2012	1,665,331	8.35%	20,528	10.70%	1,875	29.41%
2013	1,757,342	5.53%	19,942	2.85%	2,164	15.41%
2014	1,810,305	3.02%	17,928	3.02%	2,324	13.53%
2015	1,997,044	10.3%	20,876	16.4%	2,229	4.1%
2016	2,195,100	9.9%	22,352	7.1%	2,200	1%
2017	2,630,338	19.8%	24,336	9%	2,266	3%
2018	2,947,172	12%	25,462	3%	2,245	0.9%
2019	3,338,147	13.3%	28,695	12.5%	2,372	5.7%
2020	1,310,614	60,7%	15,280	46,8%	1,796.8	24.3%
2021	2,923,533	123.1%	26,152	73%	1,983	10.4%
2022	5,198,550	77.8%	38,517	47.3%	2,045	3.1%
2023	7,257,662	39.6%	51,050	32.5%	1,953	4.5%
2024	10,708,975	48%	68,346	35%	2,257	18%
2025	11,640,044	9%	69,896	2%	2,805	26%

Busiest routes

Rank

Destination

Airport

Number of passengers

Top carriers

Rank

Carrier

Market share

Ground transport

Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza is connected to the national road network via SH60, which links the airport to the SH2 Durrës–Tirana highway and provides access to the A1 corridor. Since 2024, road connectivity has been improved through upgraded junctions and access roads serving the airport area. Taxis and car rental services are available at the terminal, and the journey between central Tirana and the airport typically takes 20–25 minutes, depending on traffic conditions.

Bus

An airport bus service operates between the airport and Tirana city centre, with stops located outside the arrivals terminal. The service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with departures approximately every hour.

Rail

A new electrified railway line linking Tirana, Durrës, and Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza is under development. The project includes a dedicated airport station and is planned to begin operations with electric trains in early 2027, providing the first direct rail connection between the airport and Albania's main urban centres.

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.
9 April 2019: An Austrian Airlines flight headed to Vienna was delayed for three 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.