Albatros Airways Sh.p.k was a

low-cost airline A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

based in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. It flew to destinations in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

using

Fokker 100 The Fokker 100 is a regional jet that was produced by Fokker in the Netherlands. The Fokker 100 was based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85. It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay tur ...

aircraft. Its main base was Rinas Mother Teresa Airport (TIA), Tirana. On 1 September 2006 the airline was grounded, only with one phone call on 31 August 2006, by the Albanian aviation authorities because of unpaid airport and air traffic control fees.

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. 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 A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market ...

. The office of the

President of Albania The president of Albania (), officially the president of the Republic of Albania (), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the Albanian Armed Forces, military and the representative of the unity of the Albanian people. The president sets ...

was accused of having favoured Albatros Airways.

Destinations

These were the scheduled international destinations as of July 2006: Albatros Airways Fokker 100 Wallner-1

Domestic

; *

( Rinas Mother Teresa Airport) Hub

International

; *

Bari Airport Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and university city as ...

* Genoa Airport * Bergamo Airport * Pescara Airport *

Pisa Airport Pisa International Airport — also named Galileo Galilei Airport — is an international airport located in Pisa, Italy. It is one of the two major airports in Tuscany, the other being Florence Airport. Pisa is ranked 10th in Italy in terms o ...

* Rimini Airport * Venice-Marco Polo Airport *

Verona Airport Verona Villafranca Airport , also known as Valerio Catullo Airport or ''Villafranca Airport'', is located southwest of Verona, Italy. The airport is situated next to the junction of A4 Milan-Venice and A22 Modena-Brenner motorways. It serves ...

Fleet

As of August 2006 the Albatros Airways fleet includes:

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

, 3–9 October 2006 *1

(leased from

Montenegro Airlines Montenegro Airlines a.d. () was the flag carrier of Montenegro, headquartered in Podgorica. It operated scheduled and charter services throughout Europe from its hub at Podgorica Airport with a second base maintained at Tivat Airport. The airli ...

References

External links

* via

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

Defunct airlines of Albania Defunct European low-cost airlines Airlines established in 2004 Airlines disestablished in 2006 2004 establishments in Albania 2006 disestablishments in Albania Airlines based in Tirana {{Albania-stub