On Saturday 8 May, a representative delegation of the Italian Air Force arrived at the airport in Kosovo for a commemorative ceremony. For the occasion, a small group of veterans from the 1st Autonomous Operational Unit (ROA), which was formed at the airport at the time, attended from Italy to represent the approximately 250 men who, between 6 and 8 May 2000, completed the relocation of the Unit from the Hotel Pashtriku, located in the city, to the newly completed facilities of the AMIKo airport.
As part of the celebrations for this significant tenth anniversary, the group of veterans also paid a visit to the hotel which today, having been completely restored, has regained its original function as a leading tourist facility in the city.
For the first time in 10 years, some Italian soldiers have therefore returned to the building, welcomed by the hotel management, visiting their former offices and those rooms which from August 1999 to May 2000 represented the “home” of the Italian Air Force in Kosovo, the logistical base that allowed the creation of the nearby airport.
Another significant moment was the Flag-Raising ceremony at the AMIKo airport, attended by the Chief of Staff of the Air Squad Command (CSA) of Rome, Air Division General Settimo Caputo, together with the Commander of the Task Force Air, Colonel Angelantonio Palmiero, the former Commander of the 1st Flag-Raising, Colonel Salvatore Raimondo, now Head of the CSA Command Office, the personnel of the Unit, and a representation of Air Force Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers who operated in Kosovo on 8 May 2000. At the end of the ceremony, General Caputo wished to emphasise ’the flattering results achieved by the Italian Air Force personnel who operated over the decade at the AMIKo Airport, demonstrating remarkable capabilities, extreme dedication, high professionalism, and an uncommon spirit of sacrifice“.
8th May 2000 immortalised the first post-war Flag Raising ceremony of the Tricolour at an Italian airfield on foreign soil; 8th May 2010 marked the tenth anniversary of that significant historical moment. The operation began in the summer of 1999 in Đakovica; in a territory not yet fully pacified, Italian Air Force personnel managed in just 52 days to ’invent from scratch’ an airport to support the Italian contingent in Kosovo, carrying out the Armed Force's first out-of-area projection activity as part of the operation named ‘Joint Guardian’ under KFOR (Kosovo Security Force). Currently, the Task Force Air, as part of Operation ‘Joint Enterprise’, operates under the command of the Commander of the National Contingent / Multi-National Battle Group West (MNBG-W) of KFOR and provides assistance to civil and military aircraft transiting through the APOD/APOE (AirPort Of Debarkation/AirPort Of Embarkation) to support the national contingents in Kosovo, effectively representing a fundamental element in promoting the infrastructural, commercial and tourist development of the western area of Kosovo.
