Former Albanian Airlines  was a joint-venture company established in 1992 by Albtransport- a state enterprise under the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications of Republic of Albaniaand Tyrolean Airways – a small airline from north Austria.

ALBANIAN AIRLINES is the largest airline in Albania, both in terms of assests and branch network. The head office of the company is located in Tirana City while the acitvities are conducted in two main places, one at the “Mother Teresa” International Airport (the main one in Albania) focused on the Operational and Maintenance and the other one for Commercial, Finance & Administrative issues in Town Office. In additions there are some branches and other General Sales Agents (GSA) outside of Albania, like Italy, Germany, Turkey, Greece, United Kingdom and Kosovo. Beyond this, plenty of travel agencies are selling the ticketes of Albanian Airlines, in and outside of country. Officialy the first Air Operation Certificate (AOC) No.0003 was issued on July 3, 1995 which act is renewable in annual bases. The company was authorised by Directoriate General of Civil Aviation of Albania (DGCA) to operate in the international commercial air transport and is designed as flag carrier of Republic of Albania in accordance with Albanian Civil Aviation Law and also in compliance with the recommended standards and practes of ICAO, Annex 6. The first flight was performed by an AIR BUS A320/200 leased from Egypt Air.

Being scheduled airline ALBANIAN AIRLINES had a great chance to began its flights around Europe alone without having any real competitor for certain time. 

The Company is also authorised to perform charter flights without any specific restrictions around the world areas. Turkey, Egypt, Zurih are the most required charter destinations performed in cooperation with main local travel agencies, during summer season, but not only.

On March 1997 the Company was oblidged to release the AIR BUS A320 and continue its normal operation with three leased aircrafts type TU –134, taken from HEMUS AIR.

The reputation of the Company was rised when the management decided to open a new destination in Prishtina (Kosovo). Note, Kosovo is over than 90% populated by ethnic Albanians and was part of ex-Yugoslavia, but it became free country on 1999, after NATO campaign. This destination was considered and remain as a political bridge between two parts of the same nation. At the middle of year 2001 the Company did another a great step on purchasing a used aircraft type BAe 146/200 with 94 seats available, which was followed by two other similar aircrafts purchased in March 2003 (BAe146/300) and later in February 2006 (BAe146/100).

ALBANIAN AIRLINES is the sole airline in Albania, which has a fleet able to perform daily flights to many destinations around Europe, like Rome, Bologna, Milan, Turin and Bari (Italy); Prishtina (Kosovo) and Istanbul (Turkey), besides other frequent destinations like Frankfurt – Germany of three times/ week or London – UK or Athens – Greece.

People trust ALBANIAN AIRLINES because this is a traditional airline in Albania which never plays with fares. People trust ALBANIAN AIRLINES because this airline has never recored any incident. People trust ALBANIAN AIRLINES because during the “dark year” 1997 was the sole foreign company which didn’t stop flying giving a significat light of life in the desert. Step by step the company risen its reputation being always punctual and offering the best of services towards passengers. Individuals, groups, ethnic Albanians and many foreigners use to fly with ALBANIAN AIRLINES. Also the highest officials including the President of Republic of Albania, the Prime minister and other heads of state or private entities prefer to fly anywhere with ALBANIAN AIRLINES. It is the only airline where the country language is available on board through  the well trainned Albanian Flight Attendants.

All Employees entirely are well qualified for their work. Step by step the maintenance staff became more qualified as well. Pilots are another valuable asset of the Company. Every 6 months they took refreshment at Customer Training Centre, Woodford – Manchester/ UK which is the largest centre that ensure both technical check of the aircrafts and the test abilities and skills of the crew.

ALBANIAN AIRLINES is 100% owned by the three brothers; Mr. Jassim M.A. Al Kharafi; Mr. Nasser M.A. Al Kharafi and Mr. Fawzi M.A. Al Kharafi and held in trust by the Holding Company “Mohamed Abdulmohsin Al Kharafi & Soons” .

ALBANIAN AIRLINES is biggest operator of Tirana International Airport (TIA) “Mother Teresa”  and the one which settle huge amounts for the supplies and services taken around all airports where she operates.

Clients, not only in Albania, trust ALBANIAN AIRLINES because the Company is something different than the others. It provides a wide range of destinations  and services that are permanently and clearly given in advance to them.  

After succesfully implementing e.ticketing service in June 2007 and the company is running fast to enable e.booking on line which will be available in the end of the this year.