Air Albania

I follow business news around Europe a good bit, and I noticed yesterday the announcement of a new airline in Europe.....Air Albania.

Yes....finally....an airline that is focused upon Albania.  I know....it's not a place that people typically dream about or discuss for vacations.

The airline?  It's a deal between the Albanian government (owning 51-percent of the deal) and Turkish Airlines, who will own the rest.  The destinations out of Albania?  Mostly going to cities within an hour of Albania.   Somewhere in the mix, I would expect at least two flights a day out of Frankfurt.  No one says the quantity of jets involved.  My humble guess is that we are talking about four to six jets to start with. 

From this period of 1945 and on up to the past decade....Albania would be described as the "Mexico of Europe" (my title).  Part of this was deserved because of the thug-like government that existed, and part of this is due to economics.  In the past decade?  Things have changed.  Most will say that the government situation is 100-percent better than in the 1980s, and that tourism is finally starting to exist in the country.

The thing about Albania is that you could drive from the north end to the south end in about 2.5 hours.  Going east to west....maybe 45 minutes.  From the one American that I spoke to, who had been there (a decade ago)....he described it a 'land where time was lost'....meaning that it was still a quiet and peaceful place without a lot of tourism.

Now with Air Albania?  Well, that's the thing.  If you got around to forty flights a day arriving in the country, and 10,000 tourists roaming the land daily...it'd become something different.  The charm and character wouldn't be the same.