Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza

Tirana International Airport
Mother Teresa
Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Tiranës
Nënë Tereza
IATA: TIA – ICAO: LATI
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Tirana International Airport SHPK (Part of Hochtief Airport)
Serves Tirana, Albania
Location Rinas
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL 108 ft / 33 m
Coordinates 41°24′53″N 019°43′14″E / 41.41472°N 19.72056°ECoordinates: 41°24′53″N 019°43′14″E / 41.41472°N 19.72056°E
Website www.tirana-airport.com
Map
TIA

Location of airport in Albania

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
18/36 2,750 9,022 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 1,810,305
Passenger change 13–14 Increase3.02%
Aircraft movements 17,928
Movements change 13–14 Decrease3.02%
Source: Albanian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1] Landings.com[2]

Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza (Albanian: Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Tiranës Nënë Tereza, IATA: TIA, ICAO: LATI) is Albania's only international airport. It is commonly known as Rinas International Airport, as it is located 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) northwest[1] of Tirana, in the village of Rinas. In 2001, the airport was named after Mother Teresa. It serves as a focus city for Alitalia, Blue Panorama Airlines and Adria Airways.

History

Early years

Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza was constructed in a period of two years, from 1955 to 1957. However, Tirana had commercial airline services before. As early as 1938, Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced regular commercial flghts linking Tirana with Belgrade with a landing in Dubrovnik.[3] With the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, and subsequent liberalization of travel restrictions abroad for Albanians, the number of airlines operating at the airport increased.

Development since the 2000s

Its reconstruction, started in 2005 and terminated in 2008, increased the processing capacity of the airport considerably, resulting in its number of passengers per year doubling from 2005 to 2010, when it reached 1.5M. The airport currently has the capacity to process 1.8M passengers per year. It is thought that such capacity will suffice to handle the expected increase given the visa liberalization for the citizens of Albania travelling to the Schengen Area, which started at the end of 2010.[4]

Facilities

Interior of Tirana Airport Terminal

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.[5]

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.[6] The expansion resulted in an increased number of passengers per annum, estimated at 1.5M passengers for 2009.[7][8] The number of passengers effectively increased to more than 1.5M in 2010.[9]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines Destinations
Adria Airways Brussels, Frankfurt, Ljubljana, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Aegean Airlines Seasonal charter: Rhodes (begins 30 May 2015)
Aegean Airlines
operated by Olympic Air 		Athens
Air Serbia Belgrade
Air Vallée Bari, Brindisi[10]
Alitalia Bari, Bologna, Genoa, Milan–Malpensa, Pisa, Rome–Fiumicino, Turin, Venice-Marco Polo
Austrian Airlines Vienna
Blu-express
operated by Blue Panorama Airlines 		Bergamo, Bologna, Genoa, Milan–Malpensa, Pisa, Rome–Fiumicino, Venice-Marco Polo, Verona
Blu-express
operated by Avanti Air 		Ancona, Florence, Perugia
British Airways London–Gatwick
Germanwings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn
Jetairfly[11] Brussels
Lufthansa Regional
operated by Lufthansa Cityline 		Munich
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
SmartWings
operated by Travel Service Airlines		Seasonal: Prague (begins 15 June 2015)[12]
Transavia France Paris–Orly (begins 2 July 2015)[13]
Turkish Airlines Istanbul–Atatürk

Cargo

Tirana International Airport Cargo Department is a leader in Albania for cargo handling, sales, shipping and logistics. Following the opening of the new Cargo Terminal, in April 2007, this Department has constantly demonstrated affordability and maintained its leading position in this industry. The Department offers international standard solutions to all carriers operating here.

Statistics

Traffic

Alitalia Airbus A320 in Tirana
Adria Airways Airbus A319 in Tirana
Olympic Air Bombardier Dash 8Q-400 in Tirana
Traffic by calendar year.
Passengers Change Aircraft operations Change Cargo
(metric tons) 		Change
2005 785,000 Increase20.77% 15,400 N.A. N.A. N.A.
2006 906,103 Increase15.43% 15,856 Increase 2.96% 2,435 N.A.
2007 1,105,770 Increase22.04% 18,258 Increase15.15% 3,832 Increase57.37%
2008 1,267,041 Increase14.58% 19,194 Increase 5.13% 2,497 Decrease34.84%
2009 1,394,688 Increase10.07% 20,064 Increase 4.53% 2,265 Decrease 9.29%
2010 1,536,822 Increase10.19% 20,768 Increase 3.51% 2,355 Increase 3.97%
2011 1,817,073 Increase18.24% 22,988 Increase10.69% 2,656 Increase12.78%
2012 1,665,331 Decrease 8.35% 20,528 Decrease10.70% 1,875 Decrease29.41%
2013 1,757,342 Increase 5.53% 19,942 Decrease 2.85% 2,164 Increase15.41%
2014 1,810,305 Increase 3.02% 17,928 Decrease 3.02% 2,324 Increase13.53%
Source: Facts and Figures about Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza.[9]

Routes

Busiest routes at Tirana International Airport[14]
City Airport(s) Weekly departures
(June 2014)		 Airlines
 Italy, Rome Rome-Fiumicino
31
Alitalia, Blu-express
 Turkey, Istanbul Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Istanbul-Atatürk
20
Pegasus Airlines, Turkish Airlines
 Italy, Milan Milan-Malpensa
19
Alitalia, Blu-express
 Austria, Vienna Vienna
16
Austrian Airlines
 Greece, Athens Athens
13
Aegean Airlines

Ground transportation

Taxi stand at Tirana Airport

Car

The airport is linked with motorway SH60 (10 km away) to SH2 Durres -Tirana access road. Taxis and car rental facilities are available at the airport.

Bus

Rinas Express airport bus, located outside Arrivals terminal, leaves on the hour every hour (8am to 7pm), to the city centre, and the trip takes around 25 to 30 minutes.

Owners

The following companies are the owners of the Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza:[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 EAD Basic
  2. ↑ Airport record for Nënë Tereza/Rinas International Airport at Landings.com. Retrieved 1 August 2013
  3. ↑ Drustvo za Vazdusni Saobracaj A D – Aeroput (1927–1948) at european airlnes.no
  4. ↑ Koha e Re (11 November 2010). "Aeroporti "Nënë Tereza" gati të presë 1.8 milionë pasagjerë". Koha e Re.
  5. ↑ Welcom to Tirana International Airport, Albania
  6. ↑ Welcome to Tirana International Airport, Albania
  7. ↑ Welcome to Tirana International Airport, Albania
  8. ↑ Tirana International Airport, Albania – HOCHTIEF.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Facts and Figures about Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza".
  10. ↑ http://www.tirana-airport.com/d/7/46/116/tia-launches-new-route-between-tirana-and-bari/
  11. ↑ "Jetairfly Flight Plan". Jetairfly.
  12. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2014/11/19/qs-s15update1/
  13. ↑ Transavia ouvre 6 routes en 2015 dont Tirana, Munich et Dublin
  14. ↑ http://www.tirana-airport.com/?RoseToken=169180229114147161160144183148154169229193083156156150160214184090168180231crc339
  15. ↑ Owners of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza

See also

External links

Media related to Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza at Wikimedia Commons