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Americans sue Air Albanian in English court: It stopped paying rent in March, it is holding our plane by force

2025-09-04 17:18:11Investigim SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

An American company from Florida has filed a lawsuit against the Albanian flag carrier, Air Albania, as the first defendant, and Turkish Airlines as the second defendant, before the High Court of England and Wales, alleging breach of lease contracts for two A320-200 aircraft.

Gat Aircraft and Engine Leasing Limited, a subsidiary of GA Telesis, filed the lawsuit on August 1 in a British court alleging that the Albanian national carrier stopped paying leases for two aircraft, namely aircraft ZA-ASM (msn 3676) and ZA-MMK (msn 4934), in March 2025. GA Telesis also claims that the airline breached other obligations to third parties, including Eurocontrol. This prompted the lessor to terminate the lease contracts.

"In further breach of contract, Air Albania has failed to redeliver the aircraft; and continues to illegally operate aircraft 3676 [ZA-ASM]," the American company writes in the lawsuit.

It has asked the court for a restraining order against any further operations with ZA-ASM, an order to confirm the termination of the lease contracts and to return both aircraft with engines, unpaid lease money and unspecified damages and costs.

The capital was able to secure the disposition of the lawsuit filed in the British court.

Americans sue Air Albanian in English court: It stopped paying rent in March, it

GA Telesis' lawsuit against Air Albania in British court

The American company said it made an official request to Turkish Airlines, as guarantor under the Air Albania lease agreement, for payment of unpaid rents on July 14, which the Turkish company refused to comply with.

News of the lawsuit was first reported by Ch-Aviation, a Swiss portal specializing in aviation news. The Swiss portal has also contacted the parties about this development.

GA Telesis declined to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings, while Air Albania and Turkish Airlines did not respond to ch-aviation's repeated requests for comment.

Turkish Airlines holds a 49% stake in Air Albania. Flightradar24 data shows that ZA-ASM has been parked at Istanbul Airport since August 6, shortly after GA Telesis filed the lawsuit.

Some Albanian media reported that the aircraft had been confiscated, although ch-aviation was unable to independently verify these claims.

Meanwhile, the aircraft ZA-MMK has been suspended at Istanbul Airport since July 22, 2024.

Air Albania no longer operates domestic aircraft and relies solely on leased aircraft capacity to carry out its operations. The company is currently operating two leased A320-200s, from Fly2Sky (LZ-FSA, msn 4247) and Dan Air (YR-DSE, msn 2479).

Lease contract with Americans

The lease agreement between GA Telesis, LLC and Air Albania was signed in 2023. At that time, the American company announced the delivery of two A320 aircraft on long-term lease to Air Albania. The aircraft were part of the fleet owned by GA Telesis and were delivered to Air Albania in the first quarter of 2023.

"GA Telesis' Leasing, Investment, Financing and Trading (“LIFT”) Group continues its growth trajectory, acquiring high-quality assets, investing in maintenance and placing them on long-term lease. These aircraft were acquired by GAT last year with the objective of redeploying them in a recovering global passenger market, supporting the expansion of Air Albania's air services in their region amid an improving travel industry," the announcement published on GA Telesis' official website at the time said.

“We are excited to support Air Albania’s fleet growth plans as they continue to serve the growing air travel demands of their market,” said David Ellis, Global Director of Leasing and Trading at GA Telesis. But Air Albania did not pay the money and now the case has ended up in the English courts. /Kapital.al


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