"Violation of the law on taxis" / Investigations into the 'Tirana Airport' of the oligarch, Shefqet Kastrati!

The Competition Authority has opened a preliminary investigation against the company that has the Rinas Airport concession , as it suspects that it has violated the competition law in the provision of taxi services.

"Referring to the monitoring of the taxi service market for travelers from and to Tirana International Airport by the Competition Commission, it was assessed that we may be in violation of Article 9 of the Competition Law," says an official announcement.

Article 9 of the competition law states that the refusal to provide a service by an enterprise with a dominant position constitutes abuse and violation of the law.

"For these reasons, the Competition Commission with decision no. 984, dated 11.05.2023 decided to open the preliminary investigation procedure against the company Tirana International Airport LLC in the taxi service market for travelers from and to Tirana International Airport," the Authority declared.

The Competition Authority suspects that the concession company of Rinas limits the competition of the taxi service at the airport by not allowing any operator other than the Auto Holiday Albania company.

The decision to open the preliminary investigation was made after complaints received by the Competition Authority from several companies that offer taxi services.

The company Tirana International Airport , which has the concession of Rinas Airport, is owned by Kastrati Aviation Holding , part of the Kastrati group.

In December 2020, this group bought the Airport concession from Real Fortress Private Limited , registered in Singapore.

After the purchase by Kastrati , the government extended the airport concession for another 13 years without competition, justifying that the new company will make 100 million euros of investments for the modernization of the airport and will reduce the fees for citizens.