It’s official the kick off of the operations at the International Airport Zayed in Kukes, northeastern Albania, on April 18.
PM Edi Rama posted a picture of the airport building on Sunday while Minister of Transport Belinda Balluku unveiled the news in pre-electoral meeting with Socialist Party supporters in Tirana on the same day.
Rama made an appeal to Albanians living in London to get ready for the maiden flight to Kukes.
The launching ceremony will be held just one week ahead of general elections in the country whish are set to be held on April 25.
The town of Kukes is on top of the list with the highest number of emigrants who reside in London. This happened especially during the Kosovo war when many cizens settled down there seeking political asylum presenting themselves as Kosovars. Balluku said that construction works at the airport will be completed within a few days, on time for the landing.
One day after Rama and Balluku announced the first London-Kukes flight, the Committee of Experts overseeing the pandemic in Albania today recommended the government to resume flights with the UK, after their positive assessment of the COVID-19 situation in the UK.
“Taking into account the significant improvement of the epidemic situation in the United Kingdom, a country which has had an exemplary performance in terms of vaccination, also reflected in the significant decline in hospitalization and fatalities, the Committee of Experts has proposed the resumption of flights with this country,” Minister of Health Ogerta Manastirliu announced on Sunday.
On Sunday, the committee also approved a government request to reduce curfew hours due to the month of Ramadan, valid until election day.
Balluku announced that the first flight operated by Air Albania and will land in Kukës with 132 passengers on April 18. It remains unclear whether the airport will be approved by international agencies until next week, or whether such approval will be necessary at all for this first flight one week ahead of elections.
The inauguration of the new airport, a project which started since the Kosovo war, concides with the closure of the Rinas airport in Tirana which paralyzed the air traffic of this Balkan country for 48 hours a few days ago due to a suspension of work of the air traffic controllers. /argumentum.al
