Albania's new airport in Gjirokastër, reactions from locals

2024-01-09 21:08:00, Aktualitet CNA

Albania's new airport in Gjirokastër, reactions from locals

Illustrative photo

The Albanian government announced that it will announce a competition within this year for the construction of a new airport in Gjirokastër.

The decision comes after the lack of interest of investors in the construction of an airport that was determined to be built in Saranda.

Local leaders and representatives of businesses in Gjirokastër have evaluated the decision as a further step for the realization of their effort to build an airport in this city, which since 2005 has been included in the list of world assets protected by UNESCO.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, said that the plans for the construction of a new airport in the south of the country had to be reviewed.

"We had to review all our plans regarding the efficiency of the airport in the south of Albania. Considering that we have an airfield in Gjirokastra, considering that the infrastructure, already built that connects Gjirokastra with Saranda, gives the possibility of a passage in no more than 35 to 45 minutes and on the other hand, having no reason that in Albania not only coastal tourism is developing, but tourism is developing everywhere, look at Tirana which continues to be full of visitors, or the number of visitors that Gjirokastra, Permeti, Tepelena, Korça had, the southern airport is thought to be in the area of ??Gjirokastra and it will serve the whole area, including Saranda and Ksamil", said Mrs. Balluku.

The local actors in Gjirokastër have appreciated the new decision since for years the Airport Construction Forum and the local government were trying to approve the construction of the airport.

Llambi Margariti, representative of the Forum, says that Gjirokastra won what it had been asking for for a long time, the construction of a tourist airport.

"All along, the Municipality, having it as its own property, did not leave the airport area to be alienated by the constructions. This area is the best preserved and last year it was licensed by the Civil Aviation Service for sport flights. Efforts will now continue to make this dream a reality", said Mr. Margariti.

Even the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Gjirokastra, Maksi Hoxha, says that the news is very good, especially for tourism enterprises.

"Gjirokastra has taken a huge boost, especially in the field of tourism. The past years showed this and the expectations for this year are also very high. The construction of the airport would give a great impetus to the development of tourism and not only, since the airport as an investment involves a large number of businesses", says Mr. Hoxha.

The mayor of Gjirokastra, Flamur Golemi, tells Voice of America that the construction of the airport will help the entire tourist region.

"It is positive and desired news not just for the city of Gjirokastra and the Gjirokastra District. Here we are talking about a joint tourist offer of Saranda and Gjirokastra. With this growing number of tourists in 2023 and expected in 2024, the airport is an important point of development and will bring more employment and economic development to this area", said Mr. Golemi.

Gjirokastra Airport has a historical tradition. The first air line Tirana-Gjirokastër-Tirana started on August 11, 1929 and was operational only in optimal weather conditions.

Until the end of the Second World War, Gjirokastra airport served for small plane flights with Tirana, Korça and Brindisi in Italy.

A few years ago, flights with small sports planes began to be organized at the Gjirokastra aerodrome. Only last year there were about 100 flights of this type./ VOA