British Airways to start its first ever flights to Albania
Business, Tourism Thursday, March 23rd, 2006Tirana, March 23 (AE) – British Airways (BA) announced it would start a number of new routes this summer, including its first ever flights to Albania’s capital Tirana.
“Albania has enormous potential as a business and leisure destination especially as an increasing number of Albanians are now based in the UK,” Robert Boyle, BA’s director of planning, said.
The new service which is to start on March 27 will operate three times a week and it will link Albania’s capital with Gatwick airport in London.
The flights will be scheduled for Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Customers can already make reservations through the company’s Web site, www.ba.com. Boeing-737-400 planes will be used on the route, with an estimated time of about three hours to travel one way.
According to BA projections about 25,000 travelers will use the new London-Tirana route in the first year, with the number rising incrementally afterwards, according to a company official.
BA’s flights would have started since the middle of 2005, but then the company decided to postpone its decission due to security concerns with the Mother Teresa International Aiport of Albania.
Since 2005, German-led Airport Partners Consortium has started renovating Tirana’s Mother Teresa International Airport to bring security up to international standards.
In recent years, Albania has drawn the attention of a number of international airline companies. Austrian Airlines, Hungary’s Malev, Greece’s Olympic Airlines, Serbia-Montenegro’s JAT, Italy’s Alitalia, Slovenia’s Adria Airways, Turkish Airlines and Bulgaria’s Hemus Air all offer regular, scheduled flights to Tirana. Several domestic companies, such as Albanian Airlines, Albatros Airways and Ada Air, also offer direct flights to and from European cities.
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