"Air Albania" beyond flights/ Our birds, our choice!

2025-08-22 11:04:00, Aktualitet Xhovan Shyti

Air Albania

When foreign giants dominate a small market, a national carrier is not a luxury, it is sustainability and identity.

Rumors come and go, especially in our beautiful Albania filled with major problems.

They go on and on and the poison increases each time and naturally the question sometimes arises: Why? What is the purpose? Why don't we love each other? Why do we want to look down on each other and start fantasizing about news, some untrue, some half-truths and some completely fabricated.

Since 2022, various headlines have predicted the bankruptcy of “Air Albania”. It has been in numerous publications in various media and portals, yet every morning the red tail takes off from Rinas, and every evening another one returns with family members, students and employees on board. In a difficult industry and in difficult times, the company still flies and carries on its wings something more than passengers: our name.

Air Albania

A little history

“Air Albania” was introduced in March 2017 and was founded on May 16, 2018 with a simple but ambitious idea: to see and hear the word “Albania” in airports around the world. I still remember the moment when we had our own airline, just like many other European countries. But in the history of Albania, fate has always played an important role and unfortunately, in many cases, it has not been on its side, and with “Air Albania” the same thing happened.

Air Albania

From pandemic to change

Shortly after the launch of flights and the company's advertising, the pandemic hit global aviation. Many other companies were suspended or disappeared; the airways now showed only darkness. No company was flying to Rinas airport, which also bears a great name in our history. It was then that it was understood what an Albanian airline means in the sky.

With the support of all local and foreign partners, as well as public institutions, planes were kept in the air for the things that mattered most, repatriation flights for Albanian citizens and vital medical cargo.

The images of "Air Albania" bringing the plane with the first vaccines on board to Tirana, while several major European and world capitals were still waiting, are still fresh in the minds of Albanians. That landing was a promise kept that Albania is now growing and getting closer to Europe every day.

Air Albania

Return after the pandemic

The comeback after the pandemic could not have been easy. By 2021, three aircraft, the ambassadors of “Air Albania”, Migjeni, Lasgushi, Naimi, returned to the sky. But the growth and development of “Air Albania” encountered some new “turbulences”.

Air Albania

A global low-cost giant opened a base in Albania with a few planes and dozens of destinations; shortly after, another global aviation giant arrived. The effect was immediate: prices fell on some routes, choice increased, and tourism took off.

It was a blessing for our small country, but competition on that scale has consequences. When two global giants take over more than 80% of a small market, every other competitor feels it.

Some unfortunately did not survive and others began to suffer the consequences. We should celebrate Albania's opening to the world, but we should also be honest about what is lost when the departure boards are dominated only by foreign brands.

Air Albania

The question arises: what does a national company bring that others cannot?

Just look at the official website of “Air Albania” or its social networks and you will see that this company emphasizes that it offers service and values. On many routes, “Air Albania” still includes a checked bag and offers a hot meal on board. It may seem simple, but for families, students and seniors this makes the difference between a fair fare and a fare that “surprises” you later.

Air Albania

CARE

Passengers also often highlight the care. Assistance for elderly or health-impaired passengers, including oxygen when medically required, compassionate support for those traveling for painful family reasons, and prompt handling of urgent medical cargo. These are not slogans; they are choices this company makes and demonstrate the values ??it carries and what it will become.

Culture

It is not without reason that Air Albania's planes bear the names of our writers, Migjeni, Lasgushi, Naimi, Fishta, carrying pieces of our history to every European gateway or not. It reminds others who we are and reminds us that we too belong to Europe and the world.

Air Albania

"Air Albania" is not just another company on the market, but a new profile of Albanian aviation in the world.

To show the difference it has in the market, based on the service and quality to its passengers, its values, and why not our history, "Air Albania" is a source of pride with everything that brings us together.

“AIR ALBANIA”

Air Albania

"Air Albania" has a staff prepared and professionally trained in one of the vanguard academies of education in the field of aviation, dedicated to ensuring that every service is unrivaled.

Over 300 new aviation employees have been trained and many of them are now operating one of the best European and global airlines thanks to "Air Albania". A company with Albanian capital, which helps the Albanian economy, enables hundreds of thousands of transactions in local banks and helps grow the Albanian economy.

Economy

What a huge financial impact it would have on our state's coffers and how many other opportunities would be created if we were able to generate what low-cost companies are offering ourselves in Albania?!

As a reference, I am taking our region, where you can easily find data that speaks volumes. Let's look at the part that is not yet in the EU (Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia).

Only in Serbia does there exist another successful airline with 100% state capital and in 2024 its turnover was estimated at ~ 700 million euros and had about 52% of the market. How much could be done in our country with such values. How much would our domestic economy be helped, while currently another value much higher than this is in European banks, outside the Albanian banking system.

"Air Albania" is the vanguard of a new aviation industry that can develop in our country with great opportunities.

Air Albania

A domestic airline can build the necessary bridges to create an Education and Development Academy for high-level technicians, pilots, and all crew members, and empower a completely new economy, and even more importantly, create and fulfill the dreams of all generations of Albanian children who have dreamed of becoming the aviators of the future.

Air Albania

The question arises again: Why is Air Albania's service not perfect?

The answer is simple and we all know it. No airline is. Planes suffer technical faults, supplies are delayed, weather closes airports, crews finish their shifts, competition drives prices down by the hour.

"Air Albania" has had its share of problems and criticism, some fair, some as we pointed out half-truths or totally untrue.

But an honest comparison with competitors means looking at the whole offering, not just the price on a label. If a ticket includes baggage, meals, and humane policies for those who need extra assistance, then a few euros difference is not a “punishment,” it’s a choice for the kind of travel ecosystem we want to preserve.

Air Albania

And one last question that comes to mind. Are we sure that the aviation market in Albania is controlled by foreign global companies?

Over 80% of our market is operated by the 2 strongest low-cost carriers globally. Don't get me wrong, it is a blessing for us that these companies are in Albania. We have been given the opportunity to travel and visit our friends, our family and the world for 14.99 euros.

What more could we ask for from this great good for Albania, especially when the memory is still fresh and we remember very well the prices just 6 years ago. But does this great good come at a cost?

Albania and market control

Air Albania

80% of market control is a very high weight, and from economic logic we have learned that it is better not to put all our eggs in one basket.

What if global companies set strategic priorities elsewhere? Will they stay here if demand falls or costs rise, or will planes be rerouted overnight to another European base?

There's nothing wrong with global airlines pursuing efficiency; that's what they're built for. But there's something dangerous when a country hands over its entire air connectivity to decisions made far away in Europe.

The day when we really need a flight, whether for medical transfers, repatriation or response to a natural disaster or war, would we at least want an Albanian airline that thinks first of this country, of our Albania?

Time has shown that this question will surely receive an answer sooner or later and we will understand it, but until then I would prefer that "Air Albania" be as big and strong as possible among Albanians./ CNA