Government begins procedures to hand over Vlora airport against arbitration order

In its rush to seize Vlora Airport, the Albanian government is taking increasingly dangerous legal actions, without stopping to consider the fact that any wrong step today could cost Albanian citizens hundreds of millions of euros in arbitration tomorrow.

On the same day that the clash with the concessionaire produced a direct warning from the emergency arbitrator appointed in the proceedings by the London Court of International Arbitration Cecilia Carrara, Minister of Infrastructure Enea Karakaçi signed a letter where he practically begins preparations for a scenario of the airport's handover.

Document No. 7542, dated 17 September 2026, was addressed to Vlora International Airport, MABCO, 2A Group and Banka Kombëtare Tregtare. From the outset, the Ministry declared as a fait accompli that “the termination of the Concession Contract has become effective”. It then requested VIA to take “appropriate preparatory and organizational steps” so that, if the arbitration tribunal allows the exercise of the Ministry’s rights under Article 15.8, the eventual handover of the facility would be carried out in an orderly manner.

At first glance, the ministry has taken care to write the document without formally crossing the red line of arbitration. The ministry specifies that it “is not seeking possession of any asset, document, facility, work, property or operational function” nor “transfer of control”, thus practically accepting the restrictions imposed by the arbitrator’s order. But having said that, Karakaçi practically requests the initiation of sequestration procedures, that is, to have a handover protocol available by September 25, where the concrete steps for the inventory of the airport’s assets, equipment, documents and data are determined; the preservation of movable and immovable assets; the cessation of any construction activity and the logistical preparations for the upcoming “transition”.

So, since the airport cannot be seized today, the government is asking the concessionaire to prepare for the day when deliveries begin.

But on the other hand, the emergency arbitrator’s order in the VIA London case temporarily prohibited the government from taking possession or operational control of the airport, taking over the assets, and replacing the concessionaire with another operator, until the arbitral tribunal had an opportunity to review the situation. This restriction was also reported publicly after the September 16 decision. 

Meanwhile, in the other procedure, that of MABCO, Cecilia Carrara went even further. In an email she sent to the parties on the evening of September 17, she reiterated to the MEI not to take any action during the emergency procedure regarding the termination of the concession that could “exacerbate the dispute” or “risk these procedures.”

In its letter, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has tried to avoid violating the order with both feet, writing that the request only aims at "preliminary planning and preparedness" and that any future transition will only be carried out if permitted.

But the document shows something else: the government continues to work on the premise that the contract has ended and that the next destination is the handover of the airport, not the return of the parties to the table.

This is the complete opposite of what Behgjet Pacolli publicly requested, who declared on September 17 that MABCO "did not intend to resolve this issue through arbitration" and asked the government for "institutional and constructive dialogue."/Lapsi.al