Ryanair is going after expansion in Albania, with the launch of a new base at Tirana Airport.
The carrier will base three Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Tirana, which is set to open from April 2026.
The airline will serve 33 routes from this base across 13 countries, with 10 of those routes being new to the network. They include Birmingham, Dublin, Milan, Malta, Naples, Pescara, Poznań, Trieste, Turin, and Verona, which will be served in the Summer 2026 timetable.
In addition, nine routes will see service uplifts, including Bari, London, Prague, Stockholm, and Warsaw.
Ryanair will offer over 450 weekly flights on these 33 routes.
Over the next five years, Ryanair will continue to invest in Albania, including up to six aircraft based in the country., growing to over 5 million passengers per annum, opening over 20 new routes, and supporting over 4,000 jobs by 2030.
It wouldn’t be Ryanair not to put a sting in the tail of this expansion, with the expansion contingent on Albania maintaining its policy of low access costs and zero aviation taxes to continue stimulating traffic and tourism growth while increasing investment and jobs.
Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:
“As Albania’s only truly low fares airline, Ryanair is pleased to announce this new S26 – 3 aircraft – Tirana base. Since launching our first Albania flights in Nov 2023, Ryanair has worked closely with our partners in Tirana Airport to deliver ambitious growth, which will now see Ryanair’s traffic grow to over 4m passengers in 2026, with 3 new B737-800 aircraft ($300m invest.) based at Tirana, supporting over 3,000 local jobs, and operating 33 routes, incl. 10 new routes to Birmingham, Dublin, Milan, Malta, Naples, Pescara, Poznan, Trieste, Turin and Verona.
Ryanair’s continued growth at Tirana, offers Albania a massive opportunity to grow its air traffic, tourism & jobs as Ryanair plans to grow to 5m passengers p.a. and base up to 6 a/c at Tirana in a $600m investment which adds over 20 new routes by 2030, provided of course that Albania maintains its current low access costs and zero aviation taxes which stimulates rapid growth in traffic, tourism, investment, and jobs.”
Tirana Airport’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Piervittorio Farabbi, said:
“Upon starting the operations in Albania back in November 2023, the Ryanair team came with a slogan of ‘Low Fares Revolution’ in Albania. Today, we mark a pivotal moment in this revolution announcing the opening of a base in Tirana. Starting next summer season, there will be much more opportunities to explore the world from Tirana and to expose touristic Albania to more countries. Such decision from a partner airline, can only come as a result of a bold commitment on our side to offer operational excellence. We have heavily invested to expand operational capacities both landside and airside with an extended runway, additional parking stands, renovated apron and taxiways and expanded terminal tripled in size. Passenger processing needs to be fast and reliable; that’s why we invested in advanced digitalization in check in, boarding and passport control. We are proud to be among the fastest airports that are transformed from operations to a base within only 30 months.”
Further Growth
From a standing start to a base in 30 months is something very impressive, showing that airlines and airports can work together to provide connectivity, as well as analysing the routes that will benefit both of them.
They will face significant competition with Wizz Air embedded in the airport, as well as other carriers that operate flights.
For passengers, more options and choices will be a wonderful thing, providing they play by the Ryanair rules…
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