Balluku inspects the works at "Mother Teresa" Airport / Investments to respond to the increasing flow of passengers

2024-04-12 20:52:00, Aktualitet CNA

Balluku inspects the works at "Mother Teresa" Airport / Investments to

At the "Mother Teresa" international airport, work is being done in parallel on several fronts, in order to increase the capacities of this airport. The works are focused on the expansion of the terminal, the rehabilitation of the runway, as well as the addition of aircraft stands.

The investment responds to the significant increase in the number of passengers and flights. The data of the first months of this year predict that the year 2024 will bring to Albania an even greater number of passengers, compared to last year.

The Deputy Prime Minister, at the same time the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, together with the director of the Civil Aviation Authority, Maksim Et'hemaj, closely inspected the progress of the works, where all measures have been taken so that the interventions that are being carried out do not affect the operation of the airport.

Director Et'hemaj said that the expansion of the terminal increases the processing capacities of the airport, while 3 gates will be added to the new part that is being built.

"It is being intervened to support the increase in the number of passengers. 15 thousand square meters here accommodate 13 thousand passengers. At the end of the third phase, the airport of Tirana, in the busiest hour, accommodates 30 thousand passengers. We are able to accommodate 30,000 passengers per hour. This is exactly what needs to be done. The investment goes together with the increase in passengers", said Et'hemaj.

As for the runway, its extension will make transoceanic flights possible. The entire investment is expected to be ready by the summer of next year. Also, the construction of the connecting road creates facilities in air traffic management.

Last year, in the first three months, there were 92 flights per day at Rinas airport, while in 2024 there will be 147 flights, a figure that shows the great increase in the flow of passengers.

Minister Belinda Balluku emphasized that precisely this increase significantly increases the need for investments, while she brought to attention the entire plan of the Albanian Government for the development of the civil advancement sector.

"It is a great pleasure to see how the Albanian Government's strategy for raising civil aviation to another level has begun to be implemented and has already materialized. We started this process in 2019, when we announced a well-studied and well-founded strategy, in cooperation with our partners EUROCONTROL, IATA and all other international actors. We have cooperated with foreign companies that have the expertise, given that Albania came from a process, let's say very basic, of civil aviation until 2019", said Balluku.

Minister Belinda Balluku further added that the increase in air traffic and the development that civil aviation is taking in Albania also need new capacities in human resources. "All this huge airport structure, built from north to south, will need human capital, which is the most important. But in aviation, unlike other fields, to raise a navigation expert, such as air navigation controllers, or to raise an airport expert takes work. It is not an easy process and moreover it needs real academies that train and certify. Then through civil aviation processes we issue licenses. It's not just a certification. We license all these experts in navigation or airport. For this reason, we have started work on establishing an academy", underlined Balluku.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Energy said that another sector that will be developed in Albania, both at Vlora and Tirana airports, is that of aircraft maintenance. A sector that until now has been missing in our country and that will also require additional human capacities./ CNA