Albania

(SHQIPRI)

After the Balkan War (1913) the new
state of Albania was formed on behalf
of the Great Powers. By December
1914 no less than six different
regimes claimed to be the ligament
government of the new state. In
November 1921 Council of Regency
ruled over Albania and in 1925 the
Republic of Albania was proclaimed
after the rebellion under the leader-
ship of Ahmed Bey Zogu. Life could
then retain its normality. Ahemed Bey
Zogu became the first president of
Albania and later (in 1928) he became
King Zog I. The country had long been
depending on Italian support. Already
a few months after the First World
War (February 1919), the Societ
Transporti Aerei Internazionali,
Milano was interested in organising a
mail-service between Antivari -
Shkodr - San Giovanni - Durazzo -
Vlor - Santi - Quaranta - Korfu
(Greece) and from Rome to Vlor. On
these service passengers would be
transported as well. The services were
never opened. The country had to wait
until 1925 to get an airline company.


Adria Aero Lloyd
(1925-1927)


Actually, in 1925 after the political
dispute about Albania was solved,
aviation on a broad basis became
possible. German interests under the
leadership of the Deutscher Aero
Lloyd, founded on February 1, 1925
in Tiran (the capital of the Republic
of Albania) the Adria Aero Lloyd,
with a capital stock of GFrs. 200,000.
Deutscher Aero Lloyd provided 55%
of the company's capital, of which by
J anuary 1926, only GFrs. 30,400 was
paid. The Albanian government had
given the Adria Aero Lloyd a long-
term concession for the transportation
of all mail, freight and passengers in
and out of Albania. Any subsidy was
not granted until 1927, when the
Italians took over the company.
Albania (a country which, as the only
country of the world did not possess a
railway system) was interested in
getting a connection with the air
services of its surrounding countries.
As both Yugoslavia and Greece were
still not Albanias best friends, due to
the dispute they had together with
Italy about the status of Albania, it
was natural for the Albanian
government to wish that the Adria
Aero Lloyd would open a route
between Vlor and Brindisi (Italy).
The first route to be opened by the
newly formed company was from
Tiran to Shkodr, Vlor and Kor in
March 1925, using two AEG K
aircraft, bought from the Deutscher
Aero Lloyd. The aircraft in question
were: D 124 and D 151. They had one
230 hp Siddeley Puma engine. In the
beginning there were also plans to use
one Dornier Komet II (D 248, c/n 5-
30) for the air routes. In November
1924 the Germans applied for an
export licence for this aircraft together
with the two AEG K.
In August the Adria Aero Lloyd
made a trial flight between Tiran and
Thessaloniki, which was to be the
beginning of an air service to Greece.
Nothing more was done in this area.
Adria Aero Lloyd first tried to
expand the domestic air services.
During the first year of operations the
company managed to carry some 800
passengers and flew 36,000
kilometres. No Albanian flying-
personal was employed: Two German
pilots, two German mechanics in
addition to a German director and the
German secretary.
It must be noted that the following
year was not at all that well as the
first year had been. In 1926-27 the
Adria Aero Lloyd flew only 20,000
kilometres and carried a fraction of
the passengers carried the year before:
158 to be precise.
In J anuary 1926 Deutsche Luft
Hansa AG in Germany was formed
and had taken over the shares of
Adria Aero Lloyd from Deutscher
Aero Lloyd. The DLH was not
interested in keeping the shares and in
the spring of 1927 the Deutsche Luft
Hansa AG and the in March 1926
founded Italian airline company
Societ Aerea Mediterranea (SAM)
came to the agreement that SAM
would take over the shares from the
DLH and that the Germans would pull
out from Albanian aviation for ever.
The official take-over took place on 7
J uly 1927. Until 20 March 1935 the
Adria Aero Lloyd was a part of the
Societ Aerea Mediterranae. The
Italians changed the name in the
Italian version: Societ Anonima
Adria Aero Lloyd (Italiana). After
the take-over was followed by a rapid
development of the company.


Societ Anonima Adria
Aero Lloyd (Italiana)
(1927-1934)


In October 1927 the company received
its first real aircraft: a J unkers F 13
with the registration I-LUMT (c/n
621). The aircraft was built in
Germany and had a 320 hp BMW IV
engine (also incorrectly quoted as
being a VMW 4-engine). It could
carry beside the pilot 4 passengers.
A second J unkers F 13 was delivered
to SAM on 29 October 1927 and
received the Italian registration I-
ABAA (c/n 2027). This aircraft was a
complete new aircraft in contrast to
the first one, which was built in 1921.
The first route to be flown by the
reconstructed company was from
Tiran to Kor in the southeast, a
distance of 114 kilometres. The other
route was from Tiran to Shkodr in
the northwest corner of the country, a
distance of merely 80 kilometres. The
aircraft used in the beginning must
have been the two old AEG K-aircraft
taken over from Adria Aero Lloyd.
The routes had been opened on
February 1, 1927 and beside the two
routes a third one were opened: Tiran
- Vlor. During the year the company
operate the according to the following
time schedule:

376.Tirana-Shkodr (Mondays )
07.00 am dep. Tiran arr. 09.30 am
08.00 am arr. Shkodr dep. 08.30 am

377.Tiran-Kor (Wednesdays)
07.00 am dep. Tiran arr. 09.30 am
08.00 am arr. Kor dep. 08.30 am

378.Tiran-Vlor (Fridays)
07.00am dep. Tiran arr. 09.30am
08.00am arr. Vlor dep. 08.30am

Beside the J unkers F 13s stationed in
Tiran, three other unknown J unkers
F 13s were used on the routes. From 1
February to December 31, 1927 the
company flew 26,151km and carried
321 passengers and 295kg of mail.
In 1928 the Societ Anonyma Adria
Aero Lloyd serviced the same lines
on which it made 407 flights, and flew
44,532 km. A total of 1,010 passen-
gers and 11,310 kg of freight was
transported by the J unkers aircraft. In
addition the SAM opened a new route
connecting Brindisi (on the heel of the
Italian boot) to the Albanian harbour
city Vlor. It was opened on April 21,
1928 and operated with the famous
Savoia Marchetti S.59 flying boats.
From Brindisi to Vlor it was a
merely 130 km and the cities were
served twice a week. In the first year
on this service the company flew
19,710 km and carried 224
passengers, 2,682 kg of mail and
newspapers and a further 4,043 kg in
goods and luggage.
The service Brindisi - Vlor went so
well that the company decide to
increase the frequency in 1929 to
three times a week in each direction.
On the Albanian network the S.A.
Adria Aero Lloyd changed its
network for the first time and added a
new service (twice a week) connecting
Vlor with Gjirokastr (85 km). The
city was situated in the south of the
country not far from the Greek border.
It too was operated by the J unkers F
13. By now the internal Albanian
network had received its peak. In
1930 the company carried 3,140
passengers and a further 37,720 kg of
mail, goods and luggage. With a
139,576 km flown that year these
results were the highest so far. The
company received beside from
Albania also subsidy from the Italian
government. The company had been
awarded a subsidy of 9,34 lire per
flown kilometre/per flight for single-
engined aircraft. The company
possessed by 1929 three J unkers F
13s. In total it received that year
240,000 lire. The economic crisis in
Europe, which started in the
beginning of the thirties, hit Albania
as well. The results for 1931 declined
heavily and continued to fall in 1932.
For 1933 and 1934 no individual
results for the Albanian network are
known. Some small changes were
made in Albania, when the Vlor -
Gjirokastr service was closed down
(on April 30, 1931) and replaced by a
new line between Vlor and Santo
Quaranta (opened May 1, 1931). The
line connected with the Vlor -
Brindisi route operated by SAM.
In 1932 another SAM-route was re-
routed. The Roma - Bari - Brindisi
line was changed into Roma - Brindisi
- Tiran - Saloniki - Sofia, thus giving
Tiran a direct connection with both
Italy (Roma), Greece (Saloniki) and
Bulgaria (Sofia). Unfortunately Sofia
was dropped again a year later, but the
remainder of the line was flown until
Ala Littoria S.A. took it over in
1934/35. The frequency on the
Albanian network was increased in
1933 to three times a week in both
directions with the exception of
Tiran - Kukus, opened in 1933 and
taken over by Ala Littoria S.A. The
three aircraft stationed in Tiran as
per J une 1, 1933 were the J unkers F
13 I-ABBI, I-AFFA and I-BBCA.
When Ala Littoria S.A. (q.v.) took
over from SAM, the Albanian network
was changed radically. The S.A.
Adria Aero Lloyd ceased to exist
when SAM became a part of Ala
Littoria S.A. The Albanian company
still existed in 1935, but was
dissolved by 1936. With the country
itself it did not went too well. Albania
was invaded by the Italians on April 7,
1939 and used during the campaign
against Greece and Yugoslavia a few
years later.