Munich – A subsidiary of Munich Airport has been the subject of international talk.
Munich Airport International GmbH (MAI) is actively involved in planning an airport in Albania that is located in a nature reserve.
Environmental organizations are calling for a freeze on construction.
The Munich Greens demand clarification.
Munich Airport International, a 100 percent subsidiary of Munich Airport, is involved in the development of the airport.
For MAI it is just one of many commitments worldwide, the airport subsidiary has been advising airports on logistics and operations for 30 years.
That was never offensive.
But the airport is now facing international criticism for the business in Albania.
The involvement of a publicly funded airport company in this project is "extraordinarily problematic," says Annette Spangenberg from the Euronatur Foundation.
"We call on Munich Airport International to withdraw from the illegal project."
Airport subsidiary advises Albanian operating companies
Airport spokesman Henner Euting explained the Albania business to our newspaper as follows: MAI “currently” advises the airport operating company MABCO Constructions, which had received the concession to operate the airport.
There are "open-ended talks" about further management services for MABCO as the operator.
The MAI does not have "possibility of influencing or decision-making powers with regard to the planning and the choice of location for the new airport".
Vlora Airport is being built on the site of a disused reserve airfield of the Albanian Air Force with a grass runway.
A conditional building permit has been in place since November last year.
"The construction has started," reports Annette Spangenberg, who was on site in February.
"I haven't seen any excavators, but trucks transporting the excavated material." From 2025, Albania's third civil airport near the Adriatic Sea will initially be used by 500,000 passengers a year to take off and land - including those from overseas.
The runway should be 3.2 kilometers long - then it would also be suitable for intercontinental machines.
Albania hopes for more tourists, but environmentalists fear for a nature reserve.
The airport location 150 kilometers south of Tirana is not far from the Narta Lagoon and the delta estuary of the Vjosa River into the Adriatic Sea.
It is a transit area, partly also a breeding ground for pink flamingos, herons and Dalmatian pelicans.
It was not until mid-March that the Vjosa was the first wild river to be completely declared a national park - which doesn't go well with an airport practically next door.
Particularly controversial: The airport location was actually in the Vjosa Narta conservation area.
Environmental groups are suing
But the government in Tirana has changed the area boundaries and "zoned out" the airport.
The Albanian environmental organization PPNEA and the Albanian Ornithological Society AOS are defending themselves legally.
"Our partners have filed two lawsuits," reports Annette Spangenberg from Euronatur.
"We are clearly showing that we are observing Albania's actions." The airport construction violates national and international law.
The construction of the airport threatens to "destroy Europe's last undeveloped natural jewel," said PPNEA's Aleksander Trajce in February.
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Vlora is south of Tirana.
© MM
The Munich Greens have also pricked up their ears.
The participation in Albania was not presented to the FMG supervisory board, wrote the parliamentary group leader in the city council, Mona Fuchs, on Twitter.
In a letter to the airport, she asked for more information about the commitment.
An answer is still pending, said a spokesman for the parliamentary group.
Only then will it be decided whether the Greens will support the exit from the business.
One lever could be Munich's participation in the airport.
