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Tirana Airport Completes Terminal Expansion
Tirana | 03 September 2009 |
Tirana’s Mother Theresa International Airport, TIA, has completed the construction and testing phase for its newly-expanded passenger terminal, due to be officially opened to traffic on September 9.
The airport has registered double-digit growth in passenger travel in the last few years. The expansion of the existing terminal comes only two years after its initial construction.
Passengers flying to London’s Gatwick Airprt on August 20 with British Airways were the first to use the extended terminal, which includes thirteen new check-in counters, three new gates, one bar, five shops and one bank.
“The Airport has made all necessary preparations for the hub to be fully operational,” said Mr Rolf Castro-Vasquez, TIA’s chief operations officer. “We attach great importance to these tests as they gave the chance for us to show our standards and skills, and now we look forward to the hub becoming fully functional,” he added.
Roughly 1.26 million passengers travelled through TIA in 2008, on 19,188 flights.
Tirana Airport
TIA’s expansion has been made possible through the provision of €46 million in funding by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Aside from the extension of the new passenger terminal, the loan also covers the construction of additional airport buildings and investments in new equipment and systems.
Tirana International Airport is a limited liability company set up by Hochtief Airport GmbH, Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft and the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund.
The company was granted a 20-year owner-operator concession by the Albania government in 2005, in the first public-private partnership in the country’s history. Source: Balkaninsight
