Three Ways for Albatross to fly again

By Jerina zaloshnja
The Albatross is a special kind of bird, a bird that has a unique way of flying. Zoologists say that “being such large and heavy bodied birds and thus having a very heavy wing-loading, it is not easy for them to land and even more difficult to take off.” That kind of description is most-helpful not only for Albatross the bird, but also for Albatross the air company that has appeared in the political scene as “the Albatross affair” and has even the grandiose pretensions of becoming “Albatross gate.”
The Albanian “Albatross Airways” company has been forbidden to fly for a month now. According to its owners who are also relatives of President Moisiu, the government is blackmailing the President of the Republic in order to force him to fire the Prosecutor General and so fulfill a recommendation by the parliamentary majority. The owners of Albatross state that the Director of the Civil Aviation Directorateشhe national department responsible for flying licensesذroposed an agreement according to which the President of the Republic would fire the Prosecutor General in exchange for a permission by CAD for Albatross Airways to continue flying. On the other hand, the government claims that the company has been forbidden to fly due to its large debts to the state. The owners respond that while it is true that the company has financial debts pending, its competitors find themselves in a similar financial situation yet they have not been forbidden to fly.
Moreover, in Top Channelء popular TV stationءnd then in newspapers, the transcripts of registered conversations beween the CAD chief and the owners of Albatross appeared. According to the taped recordings, the CAD boss explicitly made it clear that only the firing of the Prosecutor General stood on the way of the Albatross planes taking off again. It is understood from the conversation that this message came from the Prime Minister himself as well as the Minister of Transport. The CAD boss claimed to have spoken once with the Prime Minister and twice with the Minister of Transport on this issue.
During a televised debate, the CAD Director claimed that the whole registration was a bogus, but then the executive seemed to retreat from that position.
The solution to the Albatross affair is not simply the issue of a business company’s problems anymore. Finding out the truth is more important for the nature of this government and for the country’s citizens, who cannot accept such blatant state capture from the chief of the executive.
Will Albatross fly again?
There are three ways left for it. First, it can attempt to jump off the building of the Presidency and gain some valuable speed in order to carry its heavy body upwards. But, that depends on the President of the Republic.
Second, it can jump off the Prime Minister’s building. But others before it have tried and have fallen straight to the ground never to take off again, as the building of the Prime Minister is too short for such acrobatics. Unless there is a gale from the Presidential building.
The third option is to jump off the Palace of Justice. Bad mouths say that this is a little, crooked building, that can be barely seen and let alone to serve as a good jump off point. But, it’s the right solution.
So let it fly from the Palace of Justice. There is no other acceptable way.