Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza
Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza, often referred to as the Rinas International Airport, is the main international airport 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. It is located northwest of Tirana, in the municipality of Krujë, Durrës County. It offers international connections primarily within Europe, whereas the most frequent routes are to Milan, Rome, London and Istanbul.
The airport serves as the main hub for the country's flag carrier, Air Albania, Albawings and Wizz Air. It serves also as a focus city for Blue Panorama Airlines.. It is the only airport in Albania with regularly scheduled passenger service, and the eighth busiest Balkan airport.
History
Early history
The airport was constructed during a period of two years, from 1955 to 1957. However, Tirana had commercial airline services before. Domestic aviation started in 1926 when German airline Adria-Aero-Lloyd obtained a monopoly for all domestic air routes in the country and begin 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. In 1938, the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced regular commercial flights linking Tirana with Belgrade, Serbia with a landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia.After the end of the Second World War and installation of an isolationist communist 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, 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 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.
Post-communism
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
As of 2017, China Everbright Limited is 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, direct investment, brokerage and investment banking.Airlines and destinations
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% | 28,270 | 11% | 2,372 | 5% |
| 2020 | 554,877 | 60,7% | 5,578 | 56,2% | 844.5 | 26,2% |
Busiest Routes
| Rank | Destination | Airport | Number of Passengers 2019 | Top carriers |
| 1 |  Milan | MXP, BGY | 485.615 | Air Albania, Blue Panorama Airlines, easyJet, Wizz Air |
| 2 | Rome | FCO | 334.695 | Air Albania, Alitalia, Blue Panorama Airlines |
| 3 |  Istanbul | IST, SAW | 253.010 | Air Albania, Pegasus Airlines |
| 4 |  London | LGW, LTN, STN | 223.800 | Albawings, British Airways, Wizz Air |
| 5 |  Vienna | VIE | 187.257 | Austrian Airlines, Wizz Air |
| 6 | Bologna | BLQ | 168.872 | Air Albania, Blue Panorama Airlines, Wizz Air |
| 7 | Pisa | PSA | 161.412 | Albawings, Wizz Air |
| 8 | Verona | VRN | 140.293 | Blue Panorama Airlines, Wizz Air |
| 9 |  Frankfurt | FRA | 126.771 | Albawings, Lufthansa |
| 10 |  Athens | ATH | 125.925 | Aegean Airlines |
| Rank | Destination | Number of Passengers 2019 |
| 1 | Italy | 1.688.839 |
| 2 | Turkey | 315.461 |
| 3 | Germany | 243.219 |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 223.800 |
| 5 | Austria | 187.257 |
| 6 | Greece | 125.925 |
| 7 |  Poland | 102.944 |
Top Carriers
Road transport
The airport is linked with motorway SH60 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. Many taxi companies offer a flat rate for to/from Airport tripsBus
An airport bus, located outside Arrivals terminal, leaves on the hour every hour, 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. The single fare is 300 Albanian Lek. From Durres the single fare is 480 Albanian Lek.Incidents and accidents
- October 3, 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.
- June 30, 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.
- April 9, 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 belly of the plane, 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.