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The scandalous end of Rama's "pride" / The Civil Aviation Authority suspends "Air Albania"

2025-12-10 16:01:43 / EKONOMI&SOCIALE ALFA PRESS
The scandalous end of Rama's "pride" / The Civil Aviation

After nearly 7 years of losses, mountains of debt and occult deals to finance the prime minister's charter trips, the fate of Albania's flag carrier, Air Albania, seems to have reached its inglorious but inevitable end. Capital has learned that the Civil Aviation Authority has been forced to suspend the license of the imaginary pride of the Albanian skies for non-compliance with legislation.

A source from within the company told Kapital that the decision was made at the beginning of this month and that Air Albania has not operated any flights for three days.

"Air Albania's operations have been temporarily suspended by the Civil Aviation Authority, for failure to comply with civil aviation standards," a government source briefed on the matter told Kapital. According to the source, Air Albania's suspension will remain in effect indefinitely until the company fulfills all obligations required by the Civil Aviation Law.

The suspension by the CAA means that the company no longer has the right to operate any flights and any ticket sales are potentially fraudulent.

Several flight market experts told Kapital that the company's fulfillment of its obligations under the conditions of the deep financial crisis it is in is highly unlikely to happen and, most likely, the suspension by the CAA is the final blow that finally seals the fate of Air Albania.

Air Albania has not operated flights since December 7th.

The future of the much-hyped government-run flag carrier now looks increasingly uncertain. FlightAware data shows that the company has not operated a single flight since December 7th and continues to cancel a series of scheduled routes to Milan and Istanbul from Tirana International Airport.

Founded in 2018 after the Albanian government revoked Albanian Airlines' license, Air Albania has been the imaginary pride of Albania for the last seven years.

Partially financed by Turkish Airlines, Air Albania's fate seemed to be finally sealed a few weeks ago, when Turkish announced its exit from the Albanian company and the sale of the 49 percent of shares it owned in this company.

While Turkey's national airline did not provide many details on the reasons for selling Air Albania, it finalized a deal to spend 300 million euros for a minority stake in the Spanish low-cost airline, Air Europa, which is more widely known.

Mountains of debt and undeclared bankruptcy

In recent months, Air Albania has faced a series of lawsuits in international courts for non-payment of obligations. The airline has been sued by at least two foreign companies for non-payment of aircraft lease payments, while its debts only increase.

The real figure for Air Albania's debts remains unknown as the company does not publish any financial statements. But the mountain of liabilities is estimated at tens of millions of euros, including debts to suppliers, taxes, airports and employees.

But despite being practically bankrupt, Air Albania continues not to officially declare bankruptcy. The suspension of its license by the Civil Aviation Authority seems to be the final blow, which will finally bring down the imaginary pride of the Albanian sky, which more than pride for the country was founded to finance the prime minister's charter trips.

The latter has been accused by the opposition as the main cause of Air Albania's bankruptcy due to Ismail's personal trips, which were made available to him by Air Albania.

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