Albanian company takes on the concession for Tirana Rinas Airport

Tirana's Rinas Airport performance over the last decade or so must have come as a surprise to many. It has grown passenger traffic steadily since it was first concessioned in 2005, as tourism into Albania has also increased.

Although available traffic data shows that in only one of the years 2009-2019 (2012) was there negative passenger growth. In all other years it ranged from a low of +3% to +19.8%, and with an average growth rate over those 11 years of +9.4%. There are few airports in Europe that can boast that consistency of growth.

Tirana Rinas Airport was described as "a model concession", and that it could be "considered a success story, somewhat against the odds." (CAPA analysis report, Jul-2015)

Now, after one change of concessionaire already, involving a Chinese joint venture, including a large international fund, the concession has changed hands again.

This time the airport is 'coming home' to a local conglomerate with strong ties to the government.