Pristina International Airport is an international...
Pristina International Airport is an international airport located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south-west of Pristina. The Airport has flights to numerous European destinations. From 12 to 26 June 1999 there was a brief but tense stand-off between NATO and the Russian Kosovo Force in which Russian troops occupied the airport. A contingent of 200 Russian troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina then crossed into Kosovo and occupied the airport in Pristina. 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. 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. 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. This ultimately results in flight paths avoiding Serbian territory with flights to Pristina having to enter via Albanian or Macedonian airspace. 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 go to either North Macedonia, Albania or Bulgaria, given that the Gjakova Airport is still a closed facility.