Pristina International Airport

Foundation and early years

The airport was originally built as Slatina Air Base, containing the second-largest military underground hangar complex in Yugoslavia.^{[citation needed]}

From 12 to 26 June 1999, there was a brief but tense stand-off between NATO and the Russian Kosovo Force in which Russian troops possessed the airport. A contingent of 200^[4] Russian troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, crossed over into Kosovo and captured the airport in Pristina.^{[citation needed]}

The apron and the passenger terminal were renovated and expanded in 2002 and again in 2009. In June 2006, Pristina International Airport was awarded the Best Airport 2006 Award by Airports Council International (ACI). Winning airports were selected for excellence and achievement across a range of disciplines including airport development, operations, facilities, security and safety, and customer service.^[5]

On 12 November 2008, Pristina International Airport received for the first time in its history the annual one-millionth passenger (excluding military). A special ceremony was held at the airport where the one-millionth passenger received a free return ticket to a destination of his choice served by the airport.^[6]

Development since 2010

In late 2010, the airport was renamed from Pristina International Airport to Pristina International Airport Adem Jashari, the founder of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought for the secession of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1990s.^[7]

Due to the ongoing dispute between Serbia and Kosovo, flights to and from Pristina International Airport are impacted by the refusal of ATC in Serbia, namely SMATSA, to allow overflights via Serbian airspace.^[8] This ultimately results in flight paths avoiding Serbian territory with flights to Pristina having to enter via Albanian or Macedonian airspace.^[8] This dispute can generally add up to 30 minutes to a flight duration and discussions to overcome this dispute have so far failed.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2011 operation was handed to Limak Kosovo International Airport J.S.C. under a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) 20-year concession agreement with the Turkish-French consortium Limak and Aeoroports de Lyon. To take account of travel disruptions due to COVID-19, in 2024 the concession agreement was extended another 20 months.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2021 the runway was extended from 2,500 to 3,000 m (8,200 to 9,800 ft) and ILS upgraded from Category 2 to Category 3b, funded by the Kosovo Government. In 2013 a new 42,000 m² (450,000 sq ft) terminal was inaugurated. In July 2024 the number of gates increased from 8 to 12, funded by the private operator.^{[citation needed]}

Traffic

More information Year, Passengers ...

Year	Passengers	Change	Flight Departures	Change	Ref.
2000	396,717	-	2,176	-	[59]
2001	779,646	96.5%	3,902	79.3%	[59]
2002	844,098	8.3%	4,171	6.90%	[59]
2003	835,036	1.1%	4,163	0.2%	[59]
2004	910,797	9.1%	4,716	13.3%	[60]
2005	930,346	2.1%	4,983	5.7%	[59]
2006	882,731	5.1%	4,077	18.2%	[61]
2007	990,259	12.2%	4,316	5.9%	[62]
2008	1,130,639	14.2%	4,928	14.2%	[63]
2009	1,191,978	5.4%	5,709	15.8%	[64]
2010	1,305,532	9.5%	6,143	7.6%	[65]
2011	1,422,302	8.9%	6,738	9.7%	[66]
2012	1,527,134	7.4%	6,947	3.1%	[67]
2013	1,628,678	6.6%	7,305	5.2%	[68]
2014	1,404,775	13.7%	5,994	17.9%	[69]
2015	1,549,198	10.3%	6,773	13.0%	[70]
2016	1,744,202	12.6%	7,254	7.1%	[71]
2017	1,885,136	8.1%	7,508	3.5%	[72]
2018	2,165,749	14.9%	8,388	11.7%	[73]
2019	2,373,698	9.6%	9,113	8.6%	[74]
2020	1,104,435	53.5%	4,651	48.9%	[75]
2021	2,180,809	97.5%	8,921	91.8%	[76]
2022	2,994,560	37.3%	10,827	21.4%	[77]
2023	3,424,883	14.4%	11,639	7.5%	[78]
2024	4,082,481	19.2%	13,518	16.1%	[3]

Close

Car

The airport is linked with the M-9 motorway, which connects with the R7 motorway.

Taxi

Taxis from the airport to Pristina are available.^[79]

Bus

The airport can be reached from the city center, via the 1A bus route, which departs from the Pristina Bus Station every two hours.^[80] The first bus starts at 07:00 from the city's main bus station to the airport and then for every two hours, the last one being at 23:00. From the airport to city, the first bus is on 08:00 and the last at 24:00, there is also a bus every two hours.

Rail

The Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu announced that construction of a railway from Pristina to Pristina Airport is expected to begin in 2024. The project has also received EU funding. ^[81]