The Adem Jashari Prishtina International Airport (
Albanian: Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Prishtinës Adem Jashari,
IATA: PRN,
ICAO: BKPR), also referred to as Pristina International Airport (
Albanian: Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Prishtinës), is an
international airport in
Pristina,
Kosovo. The airport is located 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of the city of
Pristina,
Kosovo. The airport has flights to numerous European destinations.
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]
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. Being the only operational airport in the immediate region, any diversions would ultimately have to go to either
North Macedonia,
Albania, or
Bulgaria, given that the
Gjakova Airport is still a closed facility.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Pristina:[9][10]
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