The state-owned company that manages air traffic, "Albcontrol", will no longer be a shareholder in the airline "Air Albania".
According to a notice in the official gazette, the Council of Ministers has decided that the capital quotas, in the amount of 10% (ten percent), owned by the company "Albcontrol", sh.a., in the company "Air Albania" sh.pk, are transferred to the Ministry of Economy and Innovation. The Ministry of Economy and Innovation, with the transfer of the quotas, the decision, exercises all the rights and obligations arising from the quality of the partner in the company "Air Albania" sh.pk
Air Albania was officially founded on May 16, 2018 as a public-private partnership between Albania and Turkey.
The airline had as its main shareholder the Turkish company Turkish Airlines (49.12%) and the remaining shares are shared by the Albanian state-owned company Albcontrol (~10%) and a private Albanian company MDN Investment (~41%).
The company, which was strongly promoted by the government, had very ambitious plans, both in expanding destinations in Europe, with lines to Italy and Britain, which were temporarily implemented, as well as those beyond it to the US, as advertised by Prime Minister Rama a year ago in a meeting with the diaspora in the US.
But in November last year, Air Albania started to have problems. Turkish Airlines announced that it decided to sell its entire 49% stake in Air Albania.
A week later, Turkish also blocked the sale of transit tickets through Air Albania, forcing those who had purchased transit tickets to go to Istanbul via Podgorica or Pristina. This is where the problems for the Albanian operator began. Air Albania began canceling flights to Istanbul.
Turkish Airlines, meanwhile, announced in January that it would launch direct flights from Tirana, definitively displacing Air Albania, which now seems to have become just another name owned by the Ministry of Economy.
Air Albania has never submitted a balance sheet. According to data from the Tax Office, the company's annual turnover has been 4-5 billion lek per year, while the operator has always resulted in losses, turning it into a practically bankrupt company today and causing Turkish to abandon it./Monitor Magazine
