Albatros Airways

Infobox Airline
airline = Albatros Airways

logo_size = 192
fleet_size = 1
destinations = 8
IATA = 4H
ICAO = LBW
callsign = ALBANWAYS
parent =
company_slogan =
founded = 2004
headquarters = Tirana, Albania
key_people = Albens Vokopola, Valer Hoxha, Fatmir Prifti, Aleksander (Sasha) Moisiu
hubs = Rinas Mother Teresa Airport
secondary_hubs =
focus_cities =
frequent_flyer =
lounge =
alliance =
subsidiaries =
website = http://www.albatrosairways.info

Albatros Airways Sh. p.k. was a low-cost airline based in Tirana in Albania. It flew to destinations in Italy using Fokker F100 aircraft. Its main base was Rinas Mother Teresa Airport (TIR), Tirana. In September 2006 the airline was grounded by the Albanian aviation authorities because of unpaid airport and air traffic control fees. [ [http://www.ch-aviation.ch/airlinepage.php?code1=LBW CH-Aviation] 9 September 2006]

History

The airline was established and started operations on 3 November 2004.

On September 1, 2006 the airline was grounded and according to local media it was advised to stop selling tickets. Albania's Civil Aviation announced, the company has debts of more than $500,000 USD. The Grounding led to heavy political controversies in Albania. The opposition and the management accused the government of having interfered against Albatros Airways violating the free market economy. The office of the President of Albania was blamed of having favored Albatros Airways. Fact|date=April 2007 The company was grounded by Prime Minister Sali Berisha's orders to pressure the President (Alfred Mojsiju) into removing a high official through Albatros which is part owned by the president's nieces. Tape recordings were aired by the media showing that in fact Mr. Berisha sabotaged the company for his personal benefits.

Destinations

These are the scheduled international destinations as of July 2006:

Domestic

*Albania
**Tirana (Rinas Mother Teresa Airport) Hub

International

*Italy
**Bari
**Milan-Orio
**Pescara
**Pisa
**Rimini
**Venice
**Verona

Fleet

As of August 2006 the Albatros Airways fleet includes: [Flight International, 3-9 October 2006]
*1 Fokker 100 (leased from Montenegro Airlines).

External links

* [http://www.albatrosairways.info/ Albatros Airways]

References