Vlora Airport will not be able to start operating flights this summer, which will have the first impact of canceling tourist contracts that Nordic agencies had with Albanian tour operators.

The canceled contracts are of the “allotment” form, that is, where there is a preliminary reservation of rooms but without payment, which were mainly in the Vlora region. The authorities have communicated to the tour operators earlier this week that the opening of the airport is not possible since it has not yet managed to obtain certification.

Contacted by local news provider Monitor, Elvis Kotherja, founder of tour operator Elite Travel Group & Elite Hospitality, confirmed that the flights of Nordics who were going to come to Vlora have been canceled. 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 they have not yet completed all the necessary procedures to enter operation. 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 the authorities and we have negotiated together 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 Kotherja.

This is the second year that tourism has suffered the consequences of the postponement of the opening of the airport in Vlora. 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 transferred by bus to Vlora.

This year too, tour operators confirmed that they had guaranteed contracts with foreign agencies for landings from Vlora, and some of the hotels had received several installments as advance payments. The airport’s failure to open seems to be another “headache” for tourism.

The situation at Vlora Airport is complicated. Currently, the two main shareholders of the consortium that holds the airport contract are in a legal battle with 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.