KOSOVO - The European Times

KOSOVOTransport & CommunicationsKosova AirlinesKosova Airlines Seeking Partners toAchieve Ambitious Growth PlansKosova Airlines, established in 2003and headquartered in Prishtina,is seeing steady growth in turnoverand has ambitious plans to expandits route network and services,according to Remzi Ejupi, CEO,who founded the airline to provideservices in Kosovo.The airline, which works throughpartner airlines and also servesas Kosovo’s top travel agency, hasboosted its turnover by an average3% to 5% per year since 2006 andanticipates around €60 million inturnover this year. Kosova Airlinesowns a 20% share of HamburgInternational via its German DistributionPartner Eurokoha ReisenGmbH. Most flights go to Germanyand Switzerland and the airline hasestablished hubs in Dusseldorf,Stuttgart, Munich and Zurich forconnections throughout the regionand beyond. This year it launched anew direct flight between Prishtinaand Basel, Switzerland.Remzi Ejupi, PresidentIn its role as an airline, KosovaAirlines offers flights via partnercarriers between Prishtina and NewYork; Zurich, Basel and Geneva(Hello and Edelweiss Air); Stuttgart(Germanwings and Air Berlin);Dusseldorf (Air Berlin); Cologne/Bonn and Hamburg (Germanwings);Munich (Hamburg International);Frankfurt and Hanover (Air Berlin);and Antalya (Atlasjet and SunExpress).Expanding route networkAlbania, Italy, Vienna, London andBrussels are all destinations RemziEjupi would like to add to KosovaAirlines’ route network. Remzi Ejupisays, “There is significant potentialfor routes between Kosovo andneighbouring countries, includingAlbania. Currently we offer flightsto Turkey only during the summerseason so we see growth there as well,particularly for year-round flights forbusiness customers.” Kosova Airlinesoffers flights between Germany andMacedonia during the high touristseason and would like to extend itsMacedonia service by offering flightsbetween Macedonia and Switzerland.It would also like to increase thenumber of flights to its establisheddestinations.The airline welcomes partnershipswith international companiesand investors to help it achieve itsgrowth plans. “We are experiencedenough to know that we cannot doeverything on our own, so we arelooking for partnerships, and I havealready made some contacts. We havea great deal to offer, including morelong-haul passengers for a partnercompany,” Remzi Ejupi says.Kosova Airlines also aims to helpjump-start Kosovo’s tourism industryby providing more flights betweenKosovo and key European destinationsand by forming partnershipswith major European tour operators,including in Albania, which RemziEjupi sees as a growth market. Heconcludes, “We aim to focus onour core activities and to becomea leading airline in Kosovo andthroughout the region.”Kosova AirlinesVellusha e Poshtme 1710000 PrishtinaKosovoTel.: +381 38 24 44 44Fax: +381 38 24 91 86www.kosovaairlines.comwww.flyksa.com41