These proposal was made in advance of the 25 November meeting of the Eurocontrol Enlarged Committee for Route Charges attended by representatives of the Albanian National Agency for Air Traffic.

According to IATA the proposal will result in an increase of 2.7 per cent unit rates for 2010, amounting to some 239 million euro in further costs for airlines. An overflight service unit is worked out according to the aircraft’s weight and the distance flown within the state’s airspace.

Out of 34 member states of Eurocontrol, the European Organization for Safety Navigation, 19 proposed overflight fee hikes, eight sought a freeze of fees, while seven others a reduction of the current charges applied to airlines.

“I applaud the 15 states who plan to reduce or freeze their en route air navigation charges,” said in a statement Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.  “But the savings they delivered were wiped out by the out-of-control monopolists completely divorced from reality, proposing increases in the middle of an unprecedented industry crisis and that is not acceptable,” he added.

Over the last decade, air traffic has grown by more than 50 per cent. Europe now has close to 8.5 million flights per year and up to 28,000 flights on busiest days. Eurocontrol expects air traffic to double by 2020. Although pretty safe air traffic control in Europe remains fairly costly. It is also hampered by heterogeneous working practices and constrained by air route networks which, in the main, are based on national borders and not air traffic flows

According to IATA the highest increase of overflight charges was proposed by Armenia at 32 per cent. Adjusting for the amount of traffic handled, the greatest impact of the increases will be felt by proposals for increases in Poland, Romania, Austria , France, the United Kingdom and Italy.

“To survive we need to cut costs and the burden must be shared across the value chain,” said Bisagni.

“The unacceptable and out of touch proposals by 19 Eurocontrol states demonstrate beyond doubt that we must urgently implement a robust performance framework under the Single European Sky regulations,” said Bisignani. Source: Balkaninsight

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The airport has registered double-digit growth in passenger travel in the last few years. The expansion of the existing terminal comes only two years after its initial construction.

Passengers flying to London’s Gatwick Airprt on August 20 with British Airways were the first to use the extended terminal, which includes thirteen new check-in counters, three new gates, one bar, five shops and one bank.

“The Airport has made all necessary preparations for the hub to be fully operational,” said Mr Rolf Castro-Vasquez, TIA’s chief operations officer. “We attach great importance to these tests as they gave the chance for us to show our standards and skills, and now we look forward to the hub becoming fully functional,” he added.

Roughly 1.26 million passengers travelled through TIA in 2008, on 19,188 flights.
Tirana Airport
TIA’s expansion has been made possible through the provision of €46 million in funding by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Aside from the extension of the new passenger terminal, the loan also covers the construction of additional airport buildings and investments in new equipment and systems.

Tirana International Airport is a limited liability company set up by Hochtief Airport GmbH, Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft and the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund.

The company was granted a 20-year owner-operator concession by the Albania government in 2005, in the first public-private partnership in the country’s history. Source: Balkaninsight

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A summer storm on the Ionian coast on Sunday, which caught tourists unprepared, has destroyed several beach-side facilities close to the city of Vlora, and threatened to sink a yacht.

The yacht which had three Italian tourists and Albanian MP Tritian Shehu on board, was caught in the storm off the coast of Karaburun, outside Vlora’s picturesque bay, local media reported.

The Albanian coastguard intervened, towing the small vessel to safety in the nearby Orikum Marina and Yacht club.

Shehu formerly served as the head of the Democratic Party and was deputy prime minister in 1996.

A second yacht in Vlora’s bay also found itself in difficulty due to the high seas, but managed to reach the ferry terminal in Vlora’s industrial port.

In the city of Orikum itself, several beach bars and club built on the beach were destroyed by the storm surge.
Source: Balkaninsight

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Despite the global economic downturn, Albania’s National Tourism Agency says the country has seen an increase in visitor numbers in the first nine months of the year.

More than 1.5 million visitors entered Albania from January to July, a 36 per cent hike on the same period in 2008.

Roughly one million visitors were from overseas, with 92 per cent of foreign visitors coming from Europe. Most of the remaining 8 per cent came from the US or Asia.

Statistics show that 89 per cent of registered visitors said that they were in the country on vacation, or to meet relatives and friends. A smaller percentage said they were in the country on business.

The largest single group of foreign visitors were from Kosovo (37 per cent), followed by visitors from Macedonia and Montenegro. All three have large ethnic Albanian populations and local experts often refer to this sector of the market as patriotic tourism.

Albanian tourism has experienced exponential growth in the last few years as the country slowly emerges from a difficult and often tumultuous transitional period.

However, while the government points to statistics in demonstrating the purported success of the tourism industry, tour operators and lobby groups complain that the country’s underdeveloped infrastructure and lack of promotion are leaving the Albanian market several steps behind its competitors.

In the latest World Economic Forum report on competitiveness in the international travel and tourism industry, Albania ranked 90th on a list of 133 countries.

In contrast, Tirana’s neighbour to the north, Montenegro, is ranked at 52, while Croatia sits at 34. Albania managed to come ahead of only two states in the region, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova. The countries listed in a similar position include war-torn African nations.

The report found that the Albanian travel and tourism industry employs 41,000 workers and earned 358 million euros in 2008, equivalent to 4.1 per cent of GDP. Source: Balkaninsight

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The city of Vlora in southern Albania, which a decade ago was considered a hot spot for human trafficking, is reinventing itself as a vacation hub.

Stretched along a bay where the Adriatic and Ionian Sea meet, Vlora has long been considered one of the cities with the highest potential for tourism development in Albania.

However, after a breakdown of law and order in 1997, following the collapse of a series of Ponzi-investment schemes in which most of the town invested, the city became something of a frontier town.

In the late 1990s, traffickers and corrupt politicians set up a massive smuggling operation, shipping migrants and drugs on speedboats across the Adriatic to Italy.

Curbing the smuggling and its human cost became a problem for the Albanian government and a roadblock on its path to EU integraton. In response, the government launched a crackdown in 2004, and a three-year moratorium on the use of speedboats from 2006 to 2009.

Now, the city has left behind its darkest hours, and is reinventing itself, attracting more tourists every year, not only from Albania, but also from Kosovo, Macedonia and elsewhere.

Nowhere is this change more visible than in the city’s ever-changing skyline. There are hundreds of new developments and construction sites are opening up daily along the coast.

“Vlora is booming, and I don’t just say that because I am a real estate agent,” says Fiona Bosticky of Fresh Property Albania.

“The city is literally doubling in size and every time I go there there is more and more construction in the city and along the coast,” she adds.

Apartment prices start from around 550 euros per square metre in the centre, and go up to 2,400 euros per square metre for upscale projects along the coast.

On the main stretch of beachfront, apartments are priced at around 900 euros per square metre with those with a sea view for sale at around 750 euro per square metre.

According to Bosticky, who mainly provides consultancy services to foreigners interested in Albania’s property market, the main foreign buyers are Italians and Kosovo Albanians.

“Buyers from the UK and other parts of Europe don’t really understand Vlora’s potential at the moment,” she says.

“Prices for real estate on the Vlora coast are already the most expensive in Albania, and it will [only] get higher. [This is] also due to the growth of industry and the expanding port, which will mean more people looking for property,” Bosticky explains.

However, she warns that a series of large industrial developments planned on the city’s northern shore could prove problematic.

“They will need to be watched closely so that the area doesn’t get polluted,” Bosticky says. Source: Balkaninsight

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Judging by the excellent preservation work and commemorative nature of the tomb, Murad was lucky enough to kick the bucket in Kosovo, as generations of the same family have tirelessly safeguarded his place of departure, which happened during the Battle of Kosovo between the Serb Empire, and it allies, and Ottoman Turks in 1389.

Just as the history of the Balkans is sometimes baffling and contested, so is the story of Murad’s death. But regardless of tales depicting either a brave fall in battle or perhaps a murder plot, visiting the sultan’s tomb is a great way to discover ancient Ottoman remnants in Kosovo.

Fadil, the admissions clerk, will greet you upon entering the large courtyard of the memorial grounds, which is shaded by dozens of trees bearing fruits such as plums, apples and pears. Directly to your right is a house which functions as a biographical museum of the fallen sultan, funded by both Kosovo’s and Turkey’s ministries of culture, as is the maintenance of the tomb.  One mulberry tree is believed to be the only living survivor of the battle, 700 years on.

Straight ahead is the stone building surrounding Murad’s tomb, a large dome covered mausoleum constructed using a traditional Ottoman design. Fadil will ask you to take off your shoes before you enter. At this time do not forget to invite Sanija along, the elderly and brisk Kosovo-Bosnian woman whose family has lived on, and maintained, the grounds for centuries. She serves as the perfect tour guide, but only speaks Bosnian and Turkish. Fadil therefore works as a translator. One or two visitors stop at the site every couple of days, says Fadil.

Sanija tells Prishtina Insight that her deceased husband’s family, who were early immigrants from Uzbekistan, travelled to Kosovo during the years of Ottoman occupation. They took up the responsibility of protecting the tomb. Many members of her husband’s family are buried in the back garden of the tomb.

Murad’s tomb is placed under a beautifully hand panted dome which incorporates Ottoman floral patterns with Arabic scripture. The tomb is wrapped in Islamic-influenced green fabric, again using Arabic scripture which is a common throughout tombs in the Islamic world.

Sania tells Prishtina Insight that Murad’s body was returned for a traditional burial in the city of Bursa in Turkey. Whether the site of the mausoleum is the location where his tent was pitched, he died, or neither of these, is shrouded in the haze of history. It is believed his organs may have been buried on the battlefield.

And if you are not interested in trying to unpick the history of the site, the bucolic scenery is also worth the trip, and would be a perfect destination for a peaceful lunch or picnic away from the hectic nature of Prishtina.

The Sultan Murad I Turbe Complex is on the main Prishtina to Mitrovica highway. Source: Balkaninsight

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“The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the British embassy in Zagreb to explain such warnings and publish an objective image of Croatia,” Croatian foreign affairs ministry spokesman Mario Dragun told the German Press Agency, dpa.

British broadcaster BBC published a report citing a warning from the British Foreign Office of “an underlying threat from terrorism and organized crime in Croatia.”

The text, which was quoted by all the media in Croatia, mentions the murders of journalist Ivo Pukanic and lawyer Ivana Hodak. The article has outraged the Adriatic country where tourism generates almost 20 per cent of gross domestic product.

“We believe that the text published by BBC is completely vicious and biased,” Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic told reporters.

Croatia’s Adriatic coastline is a popular destination among tourists looking for an alternative to Greece and Italy.
Source: Balkaninsight

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The Albania-Italy connection is serviced by several low-cost airlines, with Albanian ‘Belle Air Airway’ having the lion’s share. The private Albanian Airlines also has flights as do Italian carriers Alitalia and Club Air. Star Airway, a new Albanian carrier is expected to start flights with various Italian airports in early 2009 to cater to the large Albania emigrant communities in the country.

Tirana’s Airport has seen a proportional growth in traffic in the last two years and is currently used by 16 airlines that connect the Albanian capital directly with 30 destinations, mainly in Western Europe where most of Albania’s 1.5 million-strong diaspora live.

In 2007  the aiport recorded its best year in terms of passenger numbers and cargo traffic, serving 1.1 million passengers, 22 percent higher than the previous year, and handling 3,483 tonnes of cargo.

Last year, it got a €46 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to extend the new passenger terminal, construct additional airport buildings and invest in new equipment and systems. The expansion is expected to be completed within 2009.

(Reporting by Besar Likmeta) Balkaninsight

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The video describes Macedonia as a jewel in the heart of the Balkans, full of undiscovered ancient sites and natural beauty, and features images highlighting the country’s Christian Orthodox heritage, traditional crafts and medieval architecture as well as the Lake Ohrid national park. A dedicated  web site was launched together to help promote the country’s tourist appeal.

The advert, part of the tourism promotional campaign under the slogan “Macedonia – Timeless”, will start showing on CNN around the world starting Thursday, officials said in a promotional event in Skopje on Wednesday.

The video was shot at various locations across the country by Macedonia’s Oscar-nominated director Milco Mancevski. The director  won worldwide fame for his first motion picture, “Before the Rain,” which won the Golden Lion award for best movie at the Venice Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for best foreign film in 1995.

Neighbouring Greece, Croatia and Montenegro already have similar commercials running on CNN several times a day.

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Villagers are engaged in a long legal battle against Albanian government and the French corporation of vacation resorts Club Med over the ownership of Kakome bay. Club Med reached a land lease contract with Albanian Government back in 2005 to build a 38 million euro resort in the pictoreque bay.

The project  faced strong protest from local villagers and was unable to begin the constraction work. A government institution, The Agency for the Restitution and Compensation of Properties seized by  the communist regime, ruled early this year that Kakome bay was public property.

Villagers appealed the verdict in court. They claim to be owners based in several documents. One of the documents date back in 1876, and is issued by the Ottoman Empire officials.

“Ottoman Empire was illegaly in Albanian territory and therefore, its documents have not legal value”, the court decision states. This is the first time that a court rule on validity of the pre-independence documents.

The land under discussion was used as community pastoral farm from villagers of Nivica. They were expropriated by communist regime on 1967.

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