Addressing a ceremony after the first test flight, Balluku also noted that the new airport will feature three business models, which will generate economic development and new jobs.

Balluku underlined that the new airport will also host cargo aircraft flights and aircraft maintenance hangars and will cover an area of around 300 hectares. The passenger terminal will cover an area of 16,000 square meters. Aircraft parking will cover 46,690 square meters.

According to her, Vlora International Airport will be transformed into a knowhow centre.

“The facility will host the Civil Aviation Academy to train the sector’s future professionals. It will also host a military academy for the military aviation and it will generate a significant number of new jobs,” she added.

Balluku announced that a five-km railway will link the new airport with the coastal city of Vlora.

Vlora International Airport, one of the major projects of the Albanian Civil Aviation, will become a new engine for Albania’s tourism and economic development.

The airport in the city of Vlora is designed to be the country’s largest international airport and a 4E class airport with a 3200-meter long runway designed to host transoceanic flights.

As many as 500,000 travelers are projected to use the airport in the first year of its operations and the passenger number is expected to gradually increase to 2.1 million in the initial phase and to around 10 million passengers a year in the later stages.

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The Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, also Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, said Tuesday that the Vlora International Airport has already opened its doors to the aviation professionals.

“Recruitment drive is underway to make Europe’s newest airport operational. Visit Vlora International Airport’s website (VIA) and file applications to become part of Albanian aviation’s history,” Deputy PM Balluku said in a post on the social media.

VIA has announced 100 vacancies in a bid to fill a wide range of posts including passenger services, ground crew and security.

Work on construction of Vlora Airport began in late 2021. The runway is taking shape, the terminal is being built, and the control tower is getting ready to boss around flights, set to begin in summer 2025.

Covering 309 hectares, Vlora Airport is designed with ambition. The 3.2-kilometre-long runway will handle wide-body planes like the Airbus A330 or Boeing 777.

Located just 10-km north of the coastal city of Vlora, the facility is designed to be Albania’s largest and a 4E class international airport, one of the major projects of the Albanian Civil Aviation, will become a new engine for Albania’s tourism and economic development.

The airport is also designed to host cargo aircraft flights and aircraft maintenance hangars.

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“Work is also underway to deliver on Durres-Prishtina railway project. The tender for construction of new cargo port of Durres in Porto Romano area will be launched in the next few days. Meanwhile, construction work is already underway at Durres and Vlora tourist ports, and work will soon begin on construction of the tourist ports in Saranda and in Lezha,” Balluku added.

The Deputy Prime Minister reiterated the government goal to making Albania an energy leader in the region and a net power exporter by 2030.

Balluku also announced that the tender will also be launched for construction of the Milot-Balldren highway section and the design for Milot-Poliçan highway project.

The airport in the city of Vlora is designed to be Albania’s largest international airport and a 4E class airport with a 3200-meter long runway and is designed to accommodate flights from and to other continents, as well as transoceanic flights.

Albania’s Socialist Party has gathered a crucial electoral congress as the ruling Socialists prepare for the next year’s parliamentary elections. The SP leader Edi Rama is expected to deliver a speech, setting out key objectives and the 2025 electoral platform.

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Balluku underlined that construction work is full steam ahead to make sure that Vlora international airport completes next spring.

The Deputy Prime Minister took to the social media to share a TV report on the ongoing work on construction of Vlora airport that will apply for the operations and security certificate next year.

Vlora International Airport, one of the major projects of the Albanian Civil Aviation, will become a new engine for Albania’s tourism and economic development.

The airport in the city of Vlora is designed to be the country’s largest international airport and a 4E class airport with a 3200-meter long runway.

The airport is also designed to host cargo aircraft flights and aircraft maintenance hangars and will cover an area of ​​297 hectares. The passenger terminal will cover an area of 16,000 square meters. Aircraft parking will cover 46,690 square meters.

The airport is scheduled to begin its operations by spring 2025.

As many as 500,000 travelers are projected to use the airport in the first year of its operations and the passenger number is expected to gradually increase to 2.1 million in the initial phase and to around 10 million passengers a year in the later stages.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Deputy PM Balluku inspected the ongoing works on construction of the new international airport in Vlora.

Work is underway in several fronts, namely on construction of the runway, the 20000-square meter terminal, the airport traffic control tower, airport fire department, hangars, construction of the access roads and the entire related infrastructure of the airport.

“The construction works have progressed in an advanced stage now. On the right is being built the airport traffic control tower, airport fire department and hangars. The airport will be a 4E category facility, one of the highest categories in the Balkans,” Balluku said.

“Now we are walking along the new 20 000-square meter terminal. It is a complex engineering project as the airport is being constructed in an area two meter below the water level. However, these elements have been already solved. The runway lies 2.5 metres above the sea level and the whole airport is being constructed four meters above the sea level. The new airport features an innovative element, which is becoming already obvious as it will be entirely covered by solar panels that are designed to generate 5.2 MWH of renewable energy to meet the airport’s needs for power,” Balluku said.

“Under the contract, as many as 330,000 passengers in the first year after the airport become operational. However, we have much higher expectations and we look forward to seeing over 1 million passengers from March 2025 to December. Construction work is slated to complete in December 2024,” Balluku added.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama posted Tuesday images of the site that is set to become Albania’s largest international airport with its 3.2-km long and 60-meter runway designed to allow for landing and take-off of larger planes operating transatlantic flights.

“Vlora International Airport has already begun to surface and it is increasingly taking shape towards becoming yet another big gate for all the international visitors choosing Albania to visit and spend their holidays,” PM Rama said via the social media.

Vlora International Airport, one of the major projects of the Albanian Civil Aviation, will become a new engine for Albania’s tourism and economic development.

Vlora International Airport (VIA) will be the gateway to Albania’s south and the gateway to development of the country’s tourism. The airport will contribute to growth of Albania’s mainstream economy and will transform the southern Albanian Riviera into a major tourist destination, capable of attracting direct foreign investments thanks to an airport located less than a one-hour drive from the main tourist and urban attractions.

With its operations, VIA will benefit and service flights of low-cost carriers that will access the market and will encourage investors to develop airport and tourism infrastructure in the area.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama inspected progress of work on the construction site of the major project, where excavation work for the 3.2-km long and 60-meter runway is already complete. The runway is designed to allow for landing and take-off of larger planes operating transatlantic flights.

“We are here at the construction site of Vlora international airport, where construction work  – as everyone already knows – kicked off on November 28 last year, or a few months ago. However, construction work is advancing satisfactorily. I would like to recall the fact that its 3.2-km long runway is the longest compared to other airports already operational in Albania and as such it meets the 4 E category standards to accommodate bigger planes. It is the only 4E category airport and it will accommodate transatlantic flights too,” the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku said.

The project manager provided a brief outline of the volume of work completed so far, underlining that the work is progressing at a satisfactory pace. “The runway along its total 3.2km length has been opened. Earthwork is underway for the taxiways with 1.8km of which is already opened. The first connection between the runway and the first 160-m long taxiway has also been completed. We have excavated a total of 45 km of drainage canals, which will help us to progress with the initial phase of the project. Work is also underway to open the 1.5km perimeter. The work is progressing for the runway’s geo-textile filling,” she said.

Mr. Behgjet Pacolli, the president of the Lugano-headquartered Mabetex Group that has been awarded the contract to construct the airport near the southern coastal city of Vlora, said that everything is now ready and work is full steam ahead to deliver on this major infrastructure project.

“We have everything a construction site needs to have in place so that it can work for more than 600 workers. We have built spaces for subcontractors, spaces for conferences, offices, a healthcare centre, on-site housing units for over 100 persons. During the next visit we will demonstrate all these through live aerial images provided by a drone and we won’t need to tour the site at all,” Pacolli said.

Vlora International Airport (VIA) will be the gateway to Albania’s south and the gateway to development of the country’s tourism. The airport will contribute to growth of Albania’s mainstream economy and will transform the southern Albanian Riviera into a major tourist destination, capable of attracting direct foreign investments thanks to an airport located less than a one-hour drive from the main tourist and urban attractions.

With its operations, VIA will benefit and service flights of low-cost carriers that will access the market and will encourage investors to develop airport and tourism infrastructure in the area.

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In the meantime, work began on the very same day to construct the international airport near the south-western port city of Vlora , set to become the country’s largest international airport of tremendous historic importance for Albanians. Prime Minister Edi Rama his Flag Day greetings and in a speech marking the occasion said:

I would like to wish a Happy Flag Day and Independence Day to all Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and in any territory where Albanians reside in this region and all over the world, where they currently work and live, but their hearts still beat for Albania and the red and black flag of Gjergj Kastrioti and Ismail Qemali.

The city of Vlora has a history of air transport.

First Albanian school of aviation was opened in Vlora, whereas an airfield for military purposes was constructed in 1920 precisely on the site where we are standing now. We are beginning a new age on the trail of the old airfield together with a good friend, one of the most prominent representatives of our national entrepreneurship, a personality who has made a name for himself through his works all over the world. A man I am honoured to consider a personal friend, Behgjet Pacolli, whom I would like to thank for involving in this joint adventure, because, for the sake of truth, it has been really difficult for us to finalize the project, which unfortunately happened to be slated to be built here in Vlora, where I had to withstand the impatience of Vlora residents, notoriously known for their impatience in entire Albanian universe.

The process just wasn’t meant to go smoothly as we all would have wished. The process was launched and suspended several times for objective reasons, which have nothing to do with us, since major public works normally encounter such surprises.

The pandemic gripped the world and our country, with the aviation sector being one of the worst-hit and it was almost impossible to reach out to people and companies that would show interest in building a new airport as the aviation industry was languishing in the clutches of the invisible enemy.

However, we didn’t stop trying and eventually we gained momentum and gathered forces to press ahead with this major project, and this is Behgjet Pacolli’s power, his company and the consortium he has founded and all the delays and the entire accumulated stress, to which Vlora residents specifically contributed through their typical mocking and traditional scourging, somehow was turned into benevolence, because we have come together today not for the consortium founded by Behgjet, but also for an amazing alliance for the airport’s future, namely the alliance with the Munich airport, one of the major powers in the air transport, not only in Europe, but also in the world, whose representatives have joined us today after starting their preparations for the project and its implementation in the very earliest stages of the project, and they are ready to take over operations of Vlora airport as soon as the consortium completes its construction and make the facility available and operational to host the initial flights.

It is amazing news that Munich airport will join in this effort as an operational power, which guarantees not only a top level management, but also a synergy with other structures, with other international airports.

Airports are somehow like family clans in a way. It wouldn’t be sufficient to build a beautiful infrastructure, or a 3.2-km long runway, which will provide capacities for direct transatlantic flights, but you should also build the alliances and synergies with other airports, to handle a much higher number of passengers and create a system with airport structures supporting and complementing one another.

This airport is the third among four sky gates we are seeking to open in Albania after Tirana and Kukes airports, before work kicks off to construct the fourth seasonal airport in Saranda, which is specifically designed to support the tourism sector. If you consider the today’s mindset of the world tourism industry, which is all about not only quantity but also a quality of the tourists influx, eyeing not only a huge number of visitors, but also predicting the spending rate by tourists to the territory, which means attracting A class visitors, who spend more when on holidays, it is a must that their destination is not located farther than 45 minutes to one hour away from their landing place.

This is the reason why we need four airports at this stage. We would probably need more airports in a later stage, after 20 years, and all those wondering why we need so many airports, should know the fact that number of airports depends on the capacity and accessibility to a country, where tourism and economic development are top priorities. On the other hand, they also need to be informed about the fact that airports are neither car parking lots for airplanes to land and accommodate nor stations for people coming just to meet their transportation needs.

The airports and ports are incredible engines for development of the economy and tourism of every country and these projects will create a significant number of new jobs. To all those who keep playing the same old tune and claiming that “the citizens lack their daily bread, and therefore we don’t need airports,” I would reiterate it here, although I frequently repeat it via the social media, the issue of the daily bread is something Albanians haven’t been facing since the Skanderbeg era. The airports are really “bread factories”, because airports generate more revenues for the country, as airports bring consumers to the country and the more people visit the country, the more the country would seek to boost its services, the more the country will work to increase production, as a whole chain of economy is created.

Tourists are consumers and by building more airports we improve and increase the quality of the visitors to the country, as I already said, in terms of the money they spend in the country.

Every visitor is certainly welcomed, but an average tourist is thought to spend more on vacation and therefore local entrepreneurship and tourism industry benefit, production grows and the state budget revenues grow along this whole chain of added value and all those who claim “we need to complete construction of the rural roads,” I would tell, of course we need to complete all the projects on water and energy supply systems.” However, how are we supposed to complete and deliver all these projects? We would be able to complete them if we increase the state budget and local budget revenues. But how are we supposed to increase the state budget and the local government budget? We would increase revenues through all these related activities that generate more revenues for the state budget and the government redistributes them by investing in various public projects in view of the public services.

I probably took so long to explain all these, but taking notice of the attention this event attracts today, I took advantage to say that no one should worry about plans on construction of new airports and ports as they are the engines of economy. They boost the engine power of our economy. With the launch of this project and with the launch of work on construction of Saranda airport we are starting a series of new engines of the country’s economy. Through airport and port projects we boost the engine power of our economy and with the launch of this project and with the launch of Saranda airport project, we will practically establish a new system of engines for the Albanian economy, taking into consideration also the fact that we are now witnessing a drastic cut in flight ticket prices for travellers, and Albanian travellers in particular, at Tirana airport.

On the other hand, the new investment plan on the second terminal and runway extension will commence very soon and the project is designed to increase the airport’s hosting capacities this year, as the Minister said, confirming that the visitors influx has increased many times compared with the pre-pandemic visitor numbers in 2019.

It is also time for us to focus and launch investment in construction of the tourist port in Vlora as soon as possible, and its construction will hopefully kick off ahead of the New Year Eve, namely construction of the new port at Triport area, which will relocate entire commercial activity currently being handled at the Vlora port into a brand new and modern infrastructure, which will house fishing boats that need a port for years now; the new tourist port in Durres, which will bring about both an incredible transformation of economy and tourism quality, the new commercial or cargo port in Durrës, as the existing port will be relocated and a new port will be built and construction work will kick off soon as one of the largest architecture studio has been announced as winner of the tender; the tourist port in Saranda, where work is already underway and in the meantime we are working on the existing Saranda port, and we plan to transform and take the tourist port in Shengjin to a whole new level.

These are all ongoing projects and they are projects I believe, a good part of them, we will see finalized or nearing their completion within our third term in office.

I very much wish and hope that this rainfall and storm associating the launch of this project, finally underway, is an auspicious harbinger of prosperity for future of Vlora and, in the meantime, not only I would wish to believe, but I strongly believe through whole power of my mind and heart, this airport is a milestone project not only for Vlora, not only for Albania, but also for Kosovo and all Albanians.

I would wish Behgjet the best of luck, as luck is needed, because, as I already said, the objective reasons, not depending on our desire or our subjective work, postponed the start of the project, and that’s why I want to wish him and everyone else involved in this project starting today the best luck and every success.

Thank you for your presence and for taking the trouble to come here despite all the difficulties and bad weather. I know that thousands of Vlora residents would have joined us here should this was to be a sunny day, but this is not a big deal, because what matters most is the fact that they finally put us to work and they are now watching us on TV and as we head back home this evening I will receive the initial text messages like “will the airport open next week? “

Thank you!

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Prime Minister Edi Rama, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Reconstruction and Reforms Program, Arben Ahmetaj, the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku, Kosovo businessman Behgjet Pacolli, whose company Mabetex is part of the consortium selected for construction of Vlora airport, local government officials and residents attended the ceremony officially marking the start of the construction work.

Describing Vlora international airport as “Albania’s third sky gate”, PM Rama said in his remarks that “a new age now begins on the old airfield trails.”

Extending his Flag Day greetings, the government head noted that the coastal city has a history of air transport, saying that “an airfield for military purposes was constructed in 1920 precisely on the site where we are standing now.”

“We are beginning a new age on the trail of the old airfield together with a good friend, one of the most prominent representatives of our national entrepreneurship, a personality who has made a name for himself through his works all over the world,” Rama said in a reference to Kosovo businessman and politician Behgjet Pacolli, whose company is part of the consortium that has been awarded the contract to construct the airport.

PM Rama noted that the process has been long delayed for objective reasons, namely due to the earthquake that hit the country two years ago and the COVID-19 pandemic few months later.

“The aviation sector was one of the worst-hit by the pandemic and it was almost impossible to reach out to people and companies that would show interest in building a new airport as the aviation industry was languishing in the clutches of the invisible enemy,” Rama said.

“This airport is a milestone project not only for Vlora and Albania alone, but also for Kosovo and all Albanians,” the government head stated.

The Premier hailed involvement of Munich airport to take over operations at Vlora airport once its construction completes.

“It is amazing news that Munich airport will join in this effort as an operational power, which guarantees not only a top level management, but also a synergy with other structures, with other international airports,” he said.

“Airports are somehow like family clans in a way. It wouldn’t be sufficient to build a beautiful infrastructure, or a 3.2-km long runway, which will provide capacities for direct transatlantic flights, but you should also build the alliances and synergies with other airports, to handle a much higher number of passengers and create a system with airport structures supporting and complementing one another. This airport is the third among four sky gates we are seeking to open in Albania after Tirana and Kukes airports, before work kicks off to construct the fourth seasonal airport in Saranda, which is specifically designed to support tourism sector,” PM Rama underlined.

The government head stated that the new airports and port projects will be the engine for development of the country’s economy and tourism and these projects will create a significant number of new jobs.

“All those wondering why we need so many airports, they should know the fact that number of airports depends on the capacity and accessibility to a country, where tourism and economic development are top priorities,” he stated.

“No one should worry about plans on construction of new airports and ports as they are the engines of economy. They boost engine power of our economy. With the launch of this project and with the launch of work on construction of Saranda airport we are starting a series of new engines of the country’s economy,” PM Rama said.

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Infrastructure and Energy Minister noted that the project experienced delays due to the suspension of the process in the aftermath of the 2019 devastating earthquake and the COVID pandemic. However – she went on saying – “we completed the tender procedures in spring 2021.”

According to her, the technical conditions of Vlora international airport are designed to accommodate flights from and to other continents, as well as transoceanic flights.

According to Balluku, the airport in the city of Vlora is designed to be Albania’s largest international airport and a 4E class airport with a 3200-meter long runway.

“Construction of the airport is expected to create around 1000 new jobs and the airport is expected to complete in April 2024 and become operational within 2025,” Balluku noted.

Infrastructure and Energy Minister also announced that the Munich Airport has committed to taking over the Vlora airport’s operations once its construction completes.

“The project envisages that as many as 500,000 travellers will use the airport in the first year of its operations and the passenger number is expected to gradually increase to 2.1 million and to around 10 million passengers a year,” Balluku said.

The airport is also designed to host cargo aircraft flights and aircraft maintenance hangars.

According to the initial project data, the airport will cover an area of ​​297 hectares. The passenger terminal will cover an area of 16,000 square meters. Aircraft parking will cover 46,690 square meters.

A consortium led by Swiss-based Mabco Constructions, a subsidiary of Mabetex Group, has been awarded the contract to construct Vlora International airport. Mabetext Group, owned by Behchet Pacolli has 50% of the shares in the winning consortium. Other companies in the consortium include YDA Group (48%) and 2A Group (2%). The value of the investment is EUR 104 million.

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