Priština Airport marks January growth

Check-in at Priština International Airport

Priština International Airport, Kosovo's sole commercial airfield, posted a 6% growth in the number of flights and passengers during January 2009. Some 85.511 passengers used the airport last month, compared to 77.824 during the same time last year. The number of flights for the same time period increased by 9.8%, or 392 flights compared to 357 the previous year. “January statistics are very promising for Kosovo, despite the global financial crisis”, said the airport's managing director, Agron Mustafa. Most of the passengers are members of Kosovo’s Diaspora, who have seen their finances affected severely by the financial crisis that has hit the U.S. and Western Europe. The airport, which was renovated extensively in the last few years, won a “Best Airport Awards” in June 2006, a commendation for excellence and achievement in airport development, operations, facilities, security and safety and customer service. It received its millionth passenger in November last year.

The global financial crisis has seen passenger numbers slide at airports across the world, particularly in November and December last year making January results extremely important as they could be vital in showing the trend 2009 will have. Recently the charter Dubrovnik Airlines announced it will commence services from Pula in Croatia to Priština twice a week, operating every Friday and Sunday.