Air Albania has started to deploy its new aircraft, an Airbus A320, on scheduled flights. The addition of the A320 complements the A319 and B737 that Air Albania already owns. His name is Naimi and will play an important role in the development of the growing aviation industry in Albania.

Air Albanie expands its fleet

Last week, Air Albania, Albania’s new national carrier and national airline, expanded its fleet with the arrival of an Airbus A320 named Naimi and registered ZA-BBC.

The plane entered service on Friday, September 10, with rotation service to Istanbul (IST) from the airline’s base in Tirana (TIA) and back.

The plane was delivered to Air Albania from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) on September 8. Air Albania is closely linked to Turkish Airlines, which is also the largest single shareholder with a 49% stake in Air Albania. The remaining 51% is held by investors in Albania.

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A moment of celebration for the airline

Sinan Dilek, CEO of Air Albania, celebrated the occasion by calling the A320 entry-into-service day “a milestone”. He also said:

“Naimi will fly over [the] Balkans, Europe and Turkey to all our destinations. I would like to thank all our partners for their collaboration and also [say a] big thanks [you] to our staff for their hard work.

The plane has already been used daily since the day it arrived.

On the first day, the aircraft flew under the flight name ZB1001 to Istanbul (IST), then back to Tirana (TIA) as ZB1005, then back to Istanbul as ZB1003, and back to base under the name ZB1004.

On the second day, Saturday September 11, the aircraft made the same two rotations from Tirana.

Then, on Sunday September 12, he operated to a new destination, Milan Malpensa (MXP), again with two rotations to Istanbul.

Today, September 13, the A320 flew to Istanbul and Milan again.

The three flying planes

Tomorrow, all three planes in Air Albania’s fleet are expected to fly at the same time, showing that the airline is already using the new A320 to increase its schedule during times of high demand.

One plane will depart Tirana for Milan Malpensa (MXP) at 08:30, another will depart for Verona (VRN) at the same time, and a third will fly to Istanbul (IST) at 09:20.

Air Albania’s booking engine currently indicates that the Airbus A320 is deployed in Istanbul, and economy class is shown as sold out. Only Business Class tickets are on sale.

For the rest of the day, the three planes should no longer be used simultaneously: only flights to Pisa (PSA), Milan Bergamo (BGY) and Bologna (BLQ) are scheduled for the rest of the day tomorrow. Italy is an important market for Albania, and it is currently dominated by Wizz Air.

What do you think of Air Albania’s expansion? Let us know in the comments.