Early development

The present airport infrastructure at Rinas was constructed between 1955 and 1957. However, Tirana had been served by commercial aviation several decades earlier. Domestic air transport in Albania began in 1926, when the German airline Adria Aero Lloyd was granted a monopoly over internal air routes and commenced services linking Tirana with Shkodër, Korçë, and Vlorë. These operations proved financially unsustainable, and the airline subsequently transferred its rights to the Italian carrier Ala Littoria, which from 1935 operated regular domestic routes connecting Tirana with Shkodër, Kukës, Peshkopia, Kuçova, Vlorë, and Gjirokastër. In 1938, the Yugoslav airline Aeroput introduced scheduled international services linking Tirana with Belgrade, with an intermediate stop in Dubrovnik, thereby integrating Albania into the regional Balkan air network on a limited scale.

Following the Second World War and the establishment of an isolationist communist regime, international air transport to and from Albania became highly restricted. Between 1944 and 1948, limited services operated between Tirana and Belgrade, but after the rupture of relations with Yugoslavia, Albania's only scheduled international connection until 1953 consisted of infrequent flights to Budapest operated by the Soviet–Hungarian airline Maszovlet. From 1953 to early 1955, no regular civil air services operated. In February 1955, flights to Moscow were inaugurated, followed by connections to other Eastern European capitals, reflecting Albania's alignment within the socialist bloc. During the 1970s, Tirana was served by China's CAAC Airlines through a weekly long-haul service to Beijing via Bucharest and Tehran. By the late 1980s, a total of six airlines operated scheduled services to Tirana, offering approximately nine international round-trip flights per week.

Following the collapse of the communist regime in 1991 and the liberalisation of international travel for Albanian citizens, air traffic expanded rapidly.

By 1999, Tirana Airport recorded 8,249 aircraft movements and 356,823 passengers, representing a sevenfold increase in traffic compared with 1991 levels. Passenger volumes continued to rise steadily during the 2000s, exceeding 1.5 million annually by 2010, and reaching two million passengers per year by 2016. Growth accelerated markedly after 2020, with traffic surpassing 7.2 million passengers in 2023 and exceeding 10 million passengers in 2024, reflecting a sustained long-term expansion of civil aviation activity in Albania.

Contemporary

The air traffic equipment and facilities of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza have undergone extensive modernisation since the mid-2000s, following investments by Tirana International Airport SHPK, a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort. Hochtief assumed management of the airport on 23 April 2005 under a 20-year concession agreement structured as a build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) arrangement. The concession programme included the construction of a completely new passenger terminal and a range of supporting infrastructure works, including a new access road, expanded parking facilities, and a bridge over the former airport access route. These investments significantly increased the airport's handling capacity, with passenger numbers reaching approximately 1.5 million by 2009 and exceeding that level in 2010. The terminal building, its subsequent expansion, the cargo facilities, associated landscaping, and car-park canopies were designed by Malaysian architect Hin Tan of Hintan. Passenger traffic continued to grow steadily in the following decade. In 2016, the airport reported serving two million passengers within a single calendar year for the first time. Growth accelerated markedly after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Tirana International Airport handled more than 7.2 million passengers, representing a substantial increase compared with both 2022 and pre-pandemic traffic levels in 2019. This trend continued in 2024, when the airport exceeded 10 million passengers for the first time, reflecting sustained expansion in airline operations and route connectivity.

In 2025, it handled a record 11.6 million passengers, continuing its rapid growth in passenger traffic, driven by expanding airline networks and tourism.