TIRANA, March 3 – The Competition Authority announced that one of the main investigations it will conduct this year will focus on the ’Tirana International Airport’ concession, due to recent developments involving the increase of both passengers and general fees of its services. The announcement comes after the Competition Authority requested the results of the Independent Economic Review conducted for the TIA concession from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The report summary brought to light some of these developments, starting with the fact that the tariffs set out in the annexes of the contract are the same for all stakeholders benefiting from TIA services. However, the report states that contracts fail to indicate whether the tariffs set by the annexes are based on any methodology which state the cost these services or details of the cost elements.
According to the independent review report, it is necessary that information on the fees of airports in the region is disclosed, in addition to the information about the fees paid by the same operators at TIA in comparison to the fees they pay at other airports.
“According to the Independent Economic Review report of the TIA Concession Agreement, there is an evident difference between the reported and audited security tariffs which according to TIA, is related to the payment of the 25 percent ‘security tax’ paid out to the General Directorate of Civil Aviation under the Concession Agreement,” the report states.
Moreover, the Independent Economic Review report points out that the fees for ground services and aircraft takeoff and landing fees are significantly higher than those set out in the company’s business plan.
As regard the passengers, during its years of operation TIA has seen a significant increase in their numbers. Therefore, it appears that TIA has seen an increase in profits as a result of revenue generated by the increased amount of passengers and growth of the air traffic management market, compared to other countries. In this line, the Independent Economic Review of the TIA Concession Agreement concluded that TIA’s profit rates are higher than those of neighboring countries.
