Air Albania (ZB, Tirana) has secured its Third Country Operator (TCO) certificate from the European Union Aviation Safety Administration (EASA) thus permitting it to launch in-house operations to the bloc.
The state-owned flag carrier's certificate was granted on May 8 and follows the privately-owned Albawings (2B, Tirana) which secured its own permit in 2019.
While Air Albania has been operating routes to the European Union - specifically, to Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, and Bologna in Italy - since late September 2019, given the absence of its own TCO, it has so far had to use a B737-800, TC-JZG (msn 60028), wet-leased from shareholder Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport). The Boeing narrowbody ended services for Air Albania on March 7 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently parked at Ankara Esenboga, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
Air Albania's in-house fleet includes a single A319-100 which was transferred from Turkish Airlines. The airline is also due to start operating another A319-100 in a VIP configuration shortly.
The ch-aviation schedules module shows Air Albania has yet to set a firm date for when it will resume scheduled flights despite running repatriation flights throughout April and May.
