Albania Moves to Scrap Vlora Airport Concession Over Delays

Albania is moving toward terminating the concession contract for Vlora International Airport after prolonged construction delays and an escalating corporate dispute, raising new questions about major infrastructure investment in the country.

Government Signals End to Stalled Concession

Publicly available information shows that the Albanian government is preparing the legal steps needed to cancel the concession for Vlora International Airport, a public private partnership signed with a consortium led by construction firm Mabco Constructions. The project was conceived as Albania’s third international gateway and a strategic hub for the southern coast, but remains unfinished despite contractual timelines that envisaged the airport operating by this period.

According to published coverage, authorities have concluded that the concessionaire has failed to meet key milestones, including completing core infrastructure and securing certification for commercial operations. The delays have persisted even as Tirana International Airport continues to handle nearly all of Albania’s fast-growing passenger traffic, keeping the country reliant on a single functioning international airport.

Reports indicate that government lawyers are now examining the concession contract’s default and termination clauses, which outline conditions under which the state may unilaterally end the agreement and reclaim control of the asset. The draft contract for Vlora International Airport, made public when the project was awarded, includes provisions that allow termination in cases of serious or persistent nonperformance.

Any formal decision to terminate is expected to trigger complex legal and financial consequences, including potential compensation claims and the need to ensure that partially completed works at the site are preserved and can be transferred to a new project structure.

Corporate Feud Paralyzes Construction Site

The move toward termination follows months of open conflict between the companies behind the concession. Public reports describe a deep rift between Kosovo-linked Mabco Constructions, which has portrayed itself as the main investor holding the vast majority of shares in Vlora International Airport sh.p.k., and 2A Group, another partner involved in major construction packages.

According to Albanian media coverage, the concession company divided the works between the two groups, granting responsibility for the runway and associated infrastructure to 2A Group and awarding the passenger terminal and other structures to Mabco. The relationship deteriorated sharply in spring 2026, when the concession company moved to terminate Mabco’s construction contract and blocked its staff and subcontractors from accessing the site, prompting days of protests and road blockages near the airport.

Publicly available statements from the Ministry of Infrastructure show that the government responded by giving the private partners a fixed deadline to resolve their commercial dispute, warning that failure to do so could result in penalties and a review of the concession. That deadline passed without a durable solution, while legal battles continued in Albanian courts over who controls the concession company and whether earlier injunctions against Mabco were valid.

The result is a construction site effectively frozen by litigation, with partially completed facilities and no clear unified contractor in charge of delivering the project. Analysts writing in local commentary outlets have argued that this internal corporate conflict, rather than technical obstacles, has become the main source of delay.

Supreme Court Decisions and New Legal Risks

The legal dimension of the dispute has grown steadily more complex. Published legal analyses highlight a sequence of court decisions since late 2025, including rulings by the civil chamber of Albania’s Supreme Court that addressed the internal governance of the concession company and the validity of measures that sidelined Mabco from decision-making.

Recent coverage indicates that the Supreme Court restored certain administrative rights to Mabco within the concession company, only for subsequent actions in lower courts to generate fresh injunctions and counterclaims. This judicial back-and-forth has created uncertainty over who is legally empowered to represent the concessionaire in dealings with the state at the very moment the government is assessing termination.

At the same time, Mabco has publicly warned that it may seek international arbitration if Albania proceeds with steps it considers unlawful or expropriatory. Letters reported in local media show the company setting deadlines for an institutional solution and invoking protections under investment treaties. Such a move could expose Albania to a lengthy and expensive arbitration case, similar to other disputes in the region arising from canceled concessions and large-scale infrastructure projects.

Legal experts quoted in domestic opinion pieces note that the original concession contract, drafted under Albanian law but shaped by international project finance practice, provides detailed mechanisms for dispute resolution and termination. How these provisions are applied will have wide implications for the perceived reliability of Albania’s legal framework among foreign investors.

Strategic Airport Project Caught in Political Crosswinds

Vlora International Airport has long been framed in government communications as a cornerstone of Albania’s tourism strategy, designed to open direct access to the country’s southern Riviera and relieve pressure on Tirana’s busy hub. Aviation planning documents and European aviation reports list the airport as a key future node in the national network, with instrument landing procedures and airspace changes already in preparation.

Despite this strategic importance, Vlora remains nonoperational, while Tirana International Airport handles virtually all scheduled international traffic. Industry observers note that this concentration increases vulnerability to disruptions and limits competition on air routes, even as Albania experiences a surge in visitor numbers and new long haul connections.

The stalled project has also become entangled with broader political debates over land use and development on the Adriatic coast near Vlora. Environmental groups and local activists have previously raised concerns about the location’s proximity to protected zones, arguing that large scale infrastructure and resort projects in the area must meet stricter transparency and environmental standards. The ongoing turmoil around the airport concession has added a governance dimension to these criticisms.

Within this context, the government’s decision to move toward terminating the concession is being interpreted by commentators as both an attempt to reassert control over a flagship project and a test of how Albania balances investor interests, environmental considerations and public expectations around transparency.

What Termination Could Mean for Travelers and Investors

For travelers, the immediate effect of a concession termination is limited, given that no scheduled flights are currently operating to or from Vlora International Airport. Most international visitors will continue to arrive via Tirana, before transferring by road to coastal destinations such as Vlora, Himara and Saranda. However, the longer the southern airport remains unfinished, the more Albania risks congested gateways and seasonal bottlenecks at its main entry point.

In the medium term, a canceled concession will require the government to decide whether to retender the project to new investors, restructure it under a different public private partnership model, or complete and operate the airport through a state controlled entity. Each option carries significant financial, technical and regulatory challenges, including the need to verify the quality of existing works, update traffic forecasts and secure aviation safety certification.

For investors, the case is being closely watched as a signal of how Albania handles distressed concessions and high profile disputes. Commentaries in regional business media suggest that a transparent, rules based termination and reprocurement process could reassure some market participants, while an outcome marked by opaque decisions or protracted arbitration could dampen appetite for future infrastructure tenders.

As developments unfold, Vlora International Airport has become more than a construction site; it is now a focal point for wider debates about rule of law, contract enforcement and the sustainability of Albania’s ambitious tourism led growth model.