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Businessman Artur Shehu breaks his silence: I am a long-time land owner in Zvërnec, I don't know the investors at all

Albanian businessman Artur Shehu spoke on the Opinion show...

"Air Albania" on the ground/ How "Turkish Airlines"'s game is suffocating its "subsidiary"

2025-09-06 11:10:00, Denoncim CNA

"Air Albania" on the ground/ How "Turkish Airlines"'s

Illustrative photo

Tirana/Istanbul- The story of the expansion of the Air Albania fleet was supposed to be a story of pride and independence.

But instead, it has become a typical manual on how a giant partner manages to suffocate a smaller company by making it completely dependent.

And in this case, the finger points in only one direction: "Turkish Airlines" is the architect of the "Air Albania" crisis.

Investigation/Balances and strikes against "Air Albania", is "Turkish Airlines" behind it?!
August 29, 10:15

False promise

In 2023, Air Albania announced the arrival of two Airbus A320s leased from GA Telesis in Miami. Tirana celebrated, seeing this as the first real step towards stepping out of the shadow of Turkish Airlines.

But, behind the scenes, the Turkish company played a different game: at the same time, it returned the two working planes, ZABEL and ZABBC, that were flying in the colors of "Air Albania".

One of them even now proudly bears the registration TC-JPZ under the Turkish Airlines flag. Expansion? No, it was simply a calculated change to keep Air Albania dependent and weak.

Who owns and what will the balance sheets of "Air Albania" hide?
September 4, 11:19

Fleet "crippled" on purpose

Just a few months later, one of the new Airbuses — ZA-MMK — was grounded in Istanbul due to engine problems. It was July 2024, at the height of the summer season. And today, more than a year later, the plane remains parked — a monument to incompetence and, according to many, sabotage.

The question is: who accepted an aircraft with such problems? Who signed the documents?

The answer is clear — Turkish Airlines. It oversaw it, it allowed it, and it has the technical power to return it to service. But it has chosen not to.

The overbilling scandal that deepened Air Albania's losses
September 5, 08:36

Payment for a ghost plane

Meanwhile, reliable sources say that Air Albania continues to pay rent for the stranded plane. So, the Albanian company is paying money for a plane that is "dead" on the runway, while Turkish Airlines, with a fleet of hundreds of planes and its own engine overhaul center, stands by as a spectator.

The reason? Control.

To financially strangle "Air Albania", keep it powerless and ensure that it never escapes the grip of Istanbul.

Traces in the courts

The game also extends to the courtrooms. In London, court proceedings have revealed that Turkish Airlines is directly linked to GA Telesis' lease contracts, perhaps even as a guarantor. If this is proven, it confirms early suspicions: Air Albania is not an independent company, but a puppet commanded by Istanbul. To this end, we addressed the plaintiff company with these questions:

1. Who found your proposed aircraft for "Air Albania"?

2. Who performed the technical acceptance?

3. Is Turkish Airlines a guarantor for the lease contract?

4. Why hasn't ZA-MMK been flying since last summer?

5. Is Air Albania holding your planes by force? If not, why does the news say so?

6. Did you notify Turkish Airlines about the situation and did they react as guarantors?

Questions were sent in English.

The answer was clear. "No comment!"

The silence that kills

Albanian shareholders, who should have defended the national flag, what was our pride yesterday, chose silence. A silence that is eerily similar to the case of "Air Bosnia", where the inflated debts under the guise of a "partnership" led the company to collapse. History seems ready to repeat itself, this time in Tirana.

"Air Albania" beyond flights/ Our birds, our choice!
August 22, 11:22

The bitter truth

This is no coincidence. Nor is it a series of unfortunate incidents.

The facts — the returned planes, the grounded planes, the silence of shareholders, the traces in the courts — all point to a premeditated strategy by Turkish Airlines.

The goal is simple: to keep the company with the Albanian flag small, dependent and powerless.

The questions that remain are no longer about engines or bills. They are about responsibility.

Until when will Albania allow its national flag carrier to be used in this game?

And who will have the courage to openly say what the facts already show: the real culprit is..../ CNA