FLASH
Shkruar nga PamfletiPlanes seized, flights suspended, staff without pay or insurance; employees accuse management of deliberate scheme to rob company before bankruptcy
Air Albania, the national airline, is in its final moments. Inside sources confirm that the bankruptcy declaration has begun, while passengers, employees and citizens are kept in the dark. Flights have been suspended one after another, aircraft have been removed or seized by their owners, and the fleet has been reduced to a single leased vehicle, operating only the Tirana-Istanbul route.
Of the four aircraft the company has operated over the past year, two have been removed from service due to non-payment. The Airbus ZA-MMK has been in Istanbul since February 8, 2024, parked and inoperable due to a serious engine defect.
The Airbus ZA-ASM, which covered the company's main routes, was seized by Etihad on August 6, 2025, after a Tirana-Istanbul trip, and has not returned to Albania. After the seizure of the ZA-ASM aircraft, the owner of the vehicle, in cooperation with Turkish Airlines, withdrew it from service and positioned it in Istanbul.
This created a legal problem, as the company’s Albanian license requires at least one “dry lease” aircraft in use. To avoid a scandal, the director of Civil Aviation, according to sources, ordered Air Albania to publicly declare that the aircraft was under maintenance, while there are official communications proving the opposite. Inside sources possess official communications proving the opposite.
A Boeing 737-800 with registration UR-SQO, taken from SkyUp, made a big splash in the media as Air Albania increased its fleet by two aircraft and opened new destinations. However, a month after the opening of the new destinations, the aircraft leased from the Ukrainian company SkyUp was withdrawn, as Air Albania did not pay the dues. Currently, the parties are in litigation.
The Airbus LZ-FSA, acquired by Fly2Sky in February 2025, is currently the only aircraft in use, but it is also at risk of being retired for the same reasons. All these movements can be verified in real time through public Flightradar24 data.
The suspension of the lines has occurred at the height of the tourist season, leaving thousands of passengers without any solution and without any refund procedure. Meanwhile, inside sources say that the situation is not simply the result of a financial crisis, but a deliberate scheme to collect the remaining funds.
At the center of this scheme that has led 'Air Albania' to collapse is the founder and main shareholder Sinan Idrizi. He has not only been the guarantor of relations with the government and Turkish Airlines, but has controlled key appointments and financial flows of the company. Inside sources say that the appointment of Sinan Isik as CEO was not a professional choice, but a calculated move to extract every lek remaining from the company's coffers through dubious payments and contracts concluded with close associates.
Two months after taking office, Isik created the company AGSS in the name of his partner Erisa Arisi, a former human resources manager at Air Albania and a friend of Idrizi's wife. According to sources, this company received fictitious payments from Air Albania for services that were not performed, while the transactions are in the BKT bank.
Meanwhile, the company's employees are facing 2 to 3 months of unpaid salaries and insurance for a year. Many of them have bank loans and family obligations, but all requests for clarification from the institutions have been ignored. After the situation was published by Pamfleti, CEO Sinan Isik openly threatened the staff. At the same time, neither the Prime Minister nor the Directorate of Civil Aviation have taken any measures, leaving serious financial and operational violations unpunished.
Air Albania is an example of the failure of management and state supervision. The company that was supposed to carry the Albanian flag in the sky, today has turned into a story of debts, seized aircraft and suspected missing funds. With limited operations and allegations of corruption in the top management, bankruptcy is expected to occur within days /Pamphlet
Lini një Përgjigje