Albatros Airways

Albatros Airways
Founded	2004
Ceased operations	2006
Hubs	Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza
Fleet size	1
Destinations	8
Headquarters	Tirana, Albania
Key people	Albens Vokopola, Valer Hoxha, Aleksandër Hoxha, Tritan Anamali, Fatmir Prifti,

Albatros Airways Sh.p.k was a low-cost airline based in Tirana in Albania. It flew to destinations in Italy using Fokker 100 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.^[1]

History

The airline was established and started operations on 3 November 2004.^{[citation needed]}

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. The office of the President of Albania was blamed of having favoured Albatros Airways. ^{[citation needed]}