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| Vlora Airport project (archive) |
Harvard analysis has taken into account how the Vlora airport project can contribute to regional economic development. The findings suggest that the airport may be commercially viable.
Airport feasibility is related to existing activities, such as economic activities directly related to or promoted by airports, the potential contribution of the airport to the tourism sector, and the potential for the development of cargo transport as an opportunity to promote exports.
For each of the three possibilities, feasibility is not possible if a series of public policies are not undertaken in advance in support of these possibilities.
The operation of the airport itself can stimulate a series of economic activities related directly to air traffic services. Airports have the ability to immediately form the economic structure of the countries around them, acting as a consumer and as a provider of air transport services. Not only transportation and logistics activities thrive around airports, but also a variety of products, trade, and construction.
For the new airport of Southern Albania to have feasibility, integrated planning is required, with a focus on real estate planning and the provision of additional infrastructure.
The establishment of an airport in Vlora has the potential to promote regional development in southern Albania through the growth of the tourism sector and related activities. Albania's tourism has seen strong growth in the last two decades but still lags behind its potential. The growth of tourism is conditioned by neighboring markets and is concentrated in the season, which further limits the growth of the sector. Establishing an airport in southern Albania would alleviate some of these transport industry-related constraints of transport in the country and the region, but tourism in the South lacks organization, low accommodation capacity and generally poor tourism infrastructure.
The air infrastructure can in theory offer opportunities to improve the competitiveness of Albanian exports, but the development of air cargo is not an easy task.
In the case of Albania, not only textile and agricultural products can be exported by air. Air cargo operations require both air traffic volume and high demand to export by air, but both conditions are unlikely to be easily realized.
Although the potential for air transport in southern Albania may be high, it is by no means safe and does not imply security in the near future.