A project designed to increase Mother Teresa International Airport’s infrastructure, passenger quality, service capacity and to transform the entire space to meet high international airport standards has just completed.
The investment project successfully completed and the airport’s expanded infrastructure now provides quality services to travellers. The project was designed to meet the evolving needs and the year-on-year exponential growth in passenger numbers, currently setting records high, totally unimaginable until recently.
The investments to date will increase the international airport’s passenger capacity to over 6 million annually.
Low cost carrier Ryanair is expected to add up to the fleet currently operating to and from Mother Teresa International Airport, increasing the number of new routes and destinations and enhancing the competition.
Prime Minister Edi Rama inspected the newly-built airport premises and extended welcome to low-cost airline, Ryanair:
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The truth is that I have been waiting for so long for this day to come and it has specifically to do with Ryanair airline. The airline’s CEO didn’t say the whole truth, because we have been demanding for Ryanair to launch its operations for some time now and its hesitation to come to Albania was not simply related to the airport’s high tax rate, but it actually had to do with another factor that someone has already explained to me some years ago when I asked him what to do so that Ryanair launches its operations from and to Albania. He told me that “Ryanair is not just an airline, but it is the stamp sealed on a country when this country becomes a global tourist destination. The fact that Ryanair is still shunning you and it means that you haven’t turned the country into a global tourist destination yet.”
It is for this reason that I am here today, because the launch of 18 new destinations by Ryanair airline from Tirana to all over Europe means that we have been awarded an important stamp, which is the outcome of a long effort to fundamentally change not only the image of Albania, which is making the headlines on the international media as a destination not to be missed, but to change many things precisely related to creation of such image. The sea in Albania was equally beautiful 10 years ago, the sun shone equally brightly 10 years ago, its mountains were certainly there 10 years ago, but, unfortunately, it lacked everything else to make people all over the world wanting to visit Albania.
Earlier today I met with the UNUM Festival organizers in the coastal town of Shëngjin. I attended the Festival’s first edition when we barely succeeded in attracting 1500 participants. This year’s edition saw the participation of 20,000 people of dozens of nationalities, not only from Europe, but also from Mexico, Latin America, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and many other countries. The problem facing the Festival’s organizers today is completely the opposite. They were nervous because of the small number of the participants in the first edition of the Festival, whereas they are now worried how to cope with the exponentially increasing number of participants that may surge to 40,000, 50,000 or even 60,000 soon, as it may run counter to the Festival’s very nature.
Having said all these, let’s return to the Tirana International Airport, which is not a great success story of an Albanian company. After being under the yoke of a concessionary contract for many years, although such a contract was finalized for good purpose as it actually expanded and transformed the Rinas airport, still the contract was a horrible one regarding its terms, making it the most expensive airport and with the highest fares in Europe and the most expensive flight tickets consequently.
The situation has been fundamentally overturned now, simply because we have finally liberated the airport from the concessionary contract’s yoke, as well as thanks to the Albania company that faced prejudices, just like we did upon delivering on such a change that, after all, was not an outcome of our will, but it was the result of the ambition and courage of this company that negotiated and acquired control over airport from foreigners. Facts speak now for themselves, clearly telling a completely different story although the airport is still an evolving and developing being and I am convinced that new spaces and more facilities will be needed soon. In addition to that, the long-time parking issue is now being tackled. The company is also planning another major investment on solar energy, as the airport’s manager announced. This is incredibly positive news and Tirana Airport, according to European Aviation data, is the only airport in Europe to fully recover after the pandemic, with data showing 123 reaching post-pandemic recovery milestones, with Istanbul airport ranking second with 92% and followed by other airports. This airport handled 5.2 million passengers last year, a record high and unimaginable number of passengers just a few years ago and this year’s projections by the Civil Aviation suggest a total of 6.5 million passengers, although the company expects a higher number of over 7 million passengers. The 5.2 million passengers figure last year was indeed the target to be reached by 2027 and I am convinced that the 10 million passengers target will be met well ahead of 2030.
Once the new Vlora international airport becomes operational, Albania’s tourism capacities will increase exponentially and the country’s economy will grow and its image as a global tourist destination will further increase, which would be translated into more new jobs, more connectivity, more trade exchanges, improved tourism services and quality services.
I will conclude my speech by focusing again on the reason why we are here today. I would like to thank the Ryanir’s CEO, who honoured us with his presence. He looks like someone losing his luggage in the airport, but he is one of the biggest oligarchs of the world aviation industry and I am very happy to have him here among us today, because I was waiting for so long for this day and tell him: You didn’t trust Albania, but Albania forced you to trust it and here you are today. Forcing an Italian to surrender is pretty easy, but you can rarely and hardly see an Irish giving up, and at the end of the day you should know that if you are champions of stubbornness in the British peninsula, we are the champions of stubbornness here in the Balkans, and the Balkans is the volcano of stubbornness in Europe.
Thank you very much!