TIRANA, April 13 – Amid the coronavirus situation which led to the suspension of a majority of flights in Albania, air traffic and passenger travel fell by 64 percent in March, according to the Civil Avation Authority (CAA).
Official data from the Civil Aviation Authority show that a total of 76,106 passengers traveled to / from the Tirana International Airport in March, 369 of whom were Charter flight passengers. Compared to February this year, the decline is at 60 percent, while compared to March of the previous year, passenger travel fell by 64 percent.
This has been a difficult month for civil aviation around the world as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and Albania has not remained unaffected.
Based on CAA’s report, due to the timing of the impact of flight restrictions as a result of Covid-19, the airline company ‘Wizz Air’ led the airline market with 16 percent of the total and a number of 12,315 passengers, followed by Blue Panorama, which accounted for 13 percent, with 9,785 passengers as well as two Albanian companies, which accounted for 12 percent of the market, respectively ‘Albawings’ with 9,071 passengers and ‘Air Albania’ with 9,131 passengers.
Despite the fact that flights to Italy were the first to be cancelled, the companies that fly to the neighboring country, such as ‘Air Albania’, ‘Albawings’, ‘Blue Panorama’, ‘Alitalia’, accounted for the largest percentages in the airline market during March 2020, by approximately 41 percent of the total.
In terms of passenger flow during March 2018, 2019, and 2020, CAA notes that the performances of all leading airline companies are declining and the company that seems to have the largest decline compared to a year ago is ‘Blue Panorama’ precisely by 80 percent, followed by ‘Alitalia’ by 76 percent.
Currently, all flights from / to Tirana International Airport are cancelled until further notice. However, the Albanian government enabled repatriation flights for all Albanian citizens who could not return home due to the COVID-19 measures. These flights were carried out by national flag carrier airline ‘Air Albania’ to Rome, Memmingen, Lyon, Geneva, Frankfurt and London.
