Vlora Airport will not be able to start flights this summer, which has led to the first impact being the cancellation of tourism contracts that Nordic agencies had with Albanian tour operators.

These are contracts of the "allotment" type, where there is a prior reservation of rooms but without payment, which were mainly in the Vlora region. The authorities have communicated to tour operators this week that the opening of the airport is impossible as it has not yet been certified.

Contacted by "Monitor", Elvis Kotherja, founder of "Elite Travel Group & Elite Hospitality", confirmed that the flights of Nordics who were to come to Vlora have been canceled, but that the good news is that Albania continues to remain in their requests as a destination for next year.

"In fact, it has been confirmed to us that Vlora Airport cannot open because all the necessary procedures to enter operation have not yet been completed. The infrastructure there is ready but it needs other steps to start flights. The bad news is that the Nordics who were going to settle in Vlora with flights from this airport have canceled for this year. There were at least 3 charters per week. But the good news is that we have negotiated for Albania to remain on the list of destinations for next year and we have received the guarantee that there will be 5 charters per week, namely two from Norway, one from Finland, one from Sweden and one from Denmark," said Mr. Kotherja.

This is the second year that tourism has suffered the consequences of an airport that was promised to open and was not finalized. Last year, the same situation was repeated where charters with tourists planned to land in Vlora were actually rescheduled to land at Tirana International Airport and then with bus transfers to Vlora. This year, too, tour operators confirmed that they had guaranteed contracts with foreign agencies for landing from Vlora and some hotels had received several installments as advance payments. The non-opening of the airport seems to be another “headache” for tourism.

What is happening with the Airport?

Currently, the two main shareholders of the consortium that holds the airport contract are in a legal battle for a number of complex reasons, while the government itself has been observing this situation. Earlier, the shareholder 2A Group, which currently manages the company, said that it aimed for flights to start in June, although sources close to the Ministry of Infrastructure told "Monitor" that this deadline was impossible and that the company had requested an extension of the deadline until September.