"Airport without feasibility study", why the tender for Kukes failed: No flights and a concessionaire with losses...

If you search for travel tickets from Kukes Airport, you will not find any trace. The concessionaire's website has no data on "departures" and "arrivals", while the last traces of tickets date back to July 2023. Subsequently, even "low cost" airlines have "abandoned" this runway, as "there is no benefit".

Experts' warnings that the airport was opened without any proper feasibility study seem to have come true, as no plane has landed or taken off from Kukes for months. A failure that was foretold, as everyone was of the opinion that "it wouldn't last long". The pomp of the statesmen to open a new gateway for air traffic has been just propaganda.

The airport runway (aerodrome) has been there since the time of King Zog, while construction began in the 2000s, with an investment from the United Arab Emirates. Later, there were attempts to open it for flights, but the concession contract with Tirana did not allow it to "raise its head". Only after the renegotiation of the TIA contract, the government received "permission" to operate flights from Kukes, which lasted very little.

The early and current designers of this airport raised concerns several times, even during the time when state leaders were making flights and meetings, that "there is no feasibility study" for the operation of this work. Even after the concession of "Northern Wings" was granted to a group close to the TIA concessionaire, flights have again been sporadic, to the point that today there is no trace of them over Kukës.

Facsimile: 'Albcontrol' has opened the tender for a feasibility study for Kukes Airport

Some time ago, the experts who designed the Kukes Airport declared that "it was done without a feasibility study, they brought the idea of ??the project without feasibility". It was the time when several planes flew to Kukes, from those of government propaganda. Meanwhile, in recent days, several months after no plane has landed and taken off from Kukes, "Albcontrol" has opened a tender to conduct a feasibility study.

A great paradox, as this study should have been done before opening it or allowing flights.

According to documents available to the VoxNews editorial office, the procurement procedure for the “feasibility study for the air traffic infrastructure at Kukes Airport” has been opened. The funding limit is 20,833,333 lekë, while the procedure will be carried out this month. It concerns “air traffic control services”, “air traffic control systems” and “air traffic control equipment”.

It seems that the government is making another attempt to get it back up and running, again as a "campaign promise". In fact, the promises have been made since 2015, when flights were 'allowed'. Then came 2017 and another attempt was made to get it open. In 2019, after years of waiting, the government awarded this public work with a 35-year concession to a consortium of companies called "Global Technical Mechanics", a firm that invested 8 million euros in its operation.

Facsimile: The company's balance sheet showed a loss of 1 million euros in 2023

VoxNews reviewed the data at the National Business Center for the concessionaire company, which shows that it has incurred a loss for 2023. "The general assembly, after reviewing the company's financial data for 2023, decided to approve the financial statements, which result in a net loss of 100,909,958 lekë. The company's net loss of this amount shall be carried forward to future periods. The company's administrator is charged with carrying out the necessary actions to file this decision with the relevant institutions," the document states.

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Faksimile: Bilanci i kompanisë doli me humbje 1 milionë euro në vitin 2023

‘Albcontrol’ ka hapur tenderin për studim fizibiliteti për Aeroportin e Kukësit

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