Air Albania is launching its first flights out of Kukës International Airport, the new international airport in Albania, to Istanbul and Zurich. To celebrate the occasion, the airline is selling tickets for a fare of just one euro plus taxes.
First flights are launched from Kukës
Air Albania, the flag carrier of Albania, has revealed its initial network out of Albania’s brand new airport, Kukës International Airport Zayed-North Wings. The first two destinations it will serve are Istanbul and Zurich, and fares are on sale for just one euro ($1.19) plus taxes. This means that flights from Kukës to both Istanbul and Zurich are on sale for just 12 euros.
Kukës is only the second international airport in all of Albania. It bares the ICAO code LAKU and the IATA code KFZ. However, interestingly, it is still not appearing on major flight tracking platforms. It is also not even showing in Google Flights.
Still, Air Albania’s Kukës flights will launch on Thursday 15th July and operate as follows:
- Flight ZB4003 departing Kukës (KFZ) at 12:40, arriving in Zurich (ZRH) at 14:55 on Thursdays, and departing and arriving just over an hour later on Sundays
- Flight ZB4002 departing Kukës (KFZ) at 19:10, arriving in Istanbul (IST) at 21:50 on Thursdays only
And, on the way back to Albania:
- Flight ZB4004 departing Zurich (ZRH) at 15:55 and arriving in Kukës (KFZ) at 18:10 on Thursdays, and departing and arriving just over an hour later on Sundays
- Flight ZB4001 departing Istanbul (IST) at 11:00 and arriving in Kukës (KFZ) at 11:40 on Thursdays
How will the scheduling work?
From the way the flight timings align, it is clear that the rotations will be operated by an aircraft operating flights between Tirana and Zurich, and Tirana and Istanbul.
The routing appears to work on Thursdays as follows:
- Flight ZB1001 departs Tirana (TIA), Air Albania’s base airport, at 07:20 to arrive in Istanbul (IST) at 10:00
- Flight ZB4001 then departs Istanbul (IST) at 11:00 to arrive in Kukës (KFZ) at 11:40
- Flight ZB4003 then departs Kukës (KFZ) at 12:40 to arrive in Zurich (ZRH) at 14:55
- Flight ZB4004 is then departing Zurich (ZRH) at 15:55 and arriving in Kukës (KFZ) at 18:10
- Then, flight ZB4002 then departs Kukës (KFZ) at 19:10, arriving in Istanbul (IST) at 21:50
- Finally, flight ZB then departs Istanbul (IST) at 22:50 to arrive back in Air Albania’s base, Tirana (TIA), at 23:10
The flight timings represent a classic scheduling pattern for an airline serving flights out of an airport that is not its base.
They are also an excellent bonus for Air Albania’s Tirana-Istanbul flights because they now enable passengers to take daily trips in either direction, thanks to the early morning departure and the late evening arrival in both directions.
What do you think of the news that Air Albania is launching flights with promo fares of just one euro plus taxes? Will you be flying on this service? Let us know what you think of this news in the comments below.
