These operations proved unprofitable, and the airline sold its rights to Italian company Ala Littoria which opened regular routes in 1935 between Tirana to Shkodër, Kukës, Peshkopia, Kuçova, Vlorë, and Gjirokastër.

[9] In 1938, the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced regular commercial flights linking Tirana with Belgrade, Serbia, with a landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

From 1944 to 1948, there was a service to Belgrade, but after the break of relations with Yugoslavia, until 1953, there was only a twice-a-month connection to Budapest operated by Soviet-Hungarian company Maszovlet.

In the 1970s, Tirana was one of the first European cities to be served by China's CAAC Airlines, with a weekly flight to Beijing via Bucharest and Tehran.

[9] With the collapse of communism in Albania in 1991 and subsequent liberalisation of travel restrictions abroad for Albanians, the number of airlines operating at the airport increased rapidly.

After reaching an agreement with the Albanian Government to end its monopoly on international flights from Albania, Hochtief AirPort sold the operation of Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza to China Everbright Limited,[20] a company specializing in asset management, direct investment, brokerage and investment banking.

[21] On 25 December 2020, Kastrati Group bought all the shares of the airport from China Everbright Limited for 71 million euros.