🇦🇱 Country guide · updated 2026-09
Drone laws in Albania
Albania transposed the EU drone rules in 2022, so the flying limits will look familiar to anyone who has flown in the Union.
At a glance
- Registration
- 2,000 lek for the operator ID
- Registration portal
- AAC drone pages
- Maximum height
- 120 m from the closest point of the surface.
- Insurance
- Not confirmed — check with the authority
We could not confirm the exact current fee for Albania against an official published tariff. The figure above is our best reading — check Autoriteti i Aviacionit Civil (Albanian Civil Aviation Authority) before you rely on it.
Albania transposed the EU drone rules in 2022, so the flying limits will look familiar to anyone who has flown in the Union. The problem is the paperwork. Registration is written to be available only to people resident in Albania, with no route for anyone else, and the authority publishes no drone map despite a legal duty to do so. The rules are European; the administration around them is not finished.
Country-specific decision path
Before you choose a launch point in Albania
- Confirm your operator paperwork Registration required — 2,000 lek for the operator ID. Outside the EU/EEA system. You need a separate registration here. Open AAC drone pages
- Check the exact route on the official map Albcontrol AIP is the national starting point; read every condition covering the complete route, not only the launch pin. Open Albcontrol AIP
- Apply the local layer Albania is the awkward case. Review the Albania zone and nature checks
Registration in Albania
Two ministerial orders from 2022 transpose EU Regulations 2019/947 and 2019/945: Order 143 of 18 July 2022 for operations and Order 114 of 6 June 2022 for the aircraft themselves. Open, Specific and Certified categories apply, along with A1, A2 and A3 and the standard operating rules. Amendments to both were out for public consultation at the time of writing.
Registration is required from 250 g, or from any weight for a drone with a personal-data sensor. There is no online portal, no downloadable registration form and no registration address published — only the fee. And the registration article is written for operators whose residence or principal place of business is in Albania, with no third-country fallback of the kind the EU rules contain. Email dron@acaa.gov.al before assuming anything here.
What it costs: 2,000 lek for the operator ID — Not published.
Outside the EU/EEA system. You need a separate registration here.
How to register
- Email dron@acaa.gov.al to establish whether you can register at all
- Register as an operator and pay the 2,000 lek fee if you are eligible
- Apply for the A1/A3 exam on form ACAA-DTL-RPCP-100 to drone.licensing@acaa.gov.al
- Wait for confirmation, which the authority gives within ten working days
- Pay the 3,000 lek exam fee and send proof of payment
- Sit the online exam — 40 questions, pass mark 70 out of 100
Albania requires operator registration from 250 g, or any weight for a drone with a camera, at 2,000 lek. Two things make it unusual. There is no published portal, form or registration address — only the fee. And the article is written for operators resident or based in Albania, with none of the third-country fallback the EU rules contain, so a visitor may have no route to register at all.
Flight rules
- Maximum height
- 120 m from the closest point of the surface.
- Line of sight
- Continuous visual contact required, except in follow-me mode or with an observer.
- Weight classes
- EU weight classes and subcategories: A1 for the lightest, A2 at 30 m from people or 5 m in low-speed mode, A3 at 150 m from residential, commercial and recreational areas.
- Night flying
- Night flying is permitted, with a green pulsing light active on the aircraft. Night is defined as between the end of evening civil twilight and the start of morning civil twilight.
- Weather
- No numeric limits published.
Albania transposed the EU class-marking regulation in 2022, so C0 to C4 exist in Albanian law and the standard subcategory rules follow them. We found no published national transition arrangement for drones without a class mark, and no Albanian statement on how legacy aircraft are treated, so a visitor with an older drone should ask rather than assume the EU transition dates were carried across.
Where you may not fly
Albania has a legal duty to publish its drone geographic zones in a single digital format, and we could not find that it has. What is published is the aeronautical information publication, which lists no prohibited areas at all, an expressly empty section where drone zones would sit, and four military restricted areas: Kuçova, Gjadri, Farka near Tirana and Kopliku in the north.
Airports and controlled airspace
Not published as drone zones. The aeronautical information publication lists no prohibited areas at all for Albania, and the section that would carry drone restrictions is expressly empty.
Towns and cities
For Tirana the relevant published restriction is the Farka military restricted area, from the ground to 5,500 ft, which requires radio contact with Farka Tower. Nothing else specific to the capital is published.
Protected nature
We found no aviation restriction published for Butrint, the Riviera, Berat, Gjirokastra or the Accursed Mountains. That is an absence in the record, not a permission — restrictions inside protected areas would arise under protected-area law, and we found no official source for those either.
Government and military sites
The four published military restricted areas are Kuçova and Gjadri, both 3 nautical miles to 2,500 ft, Farka near Tirana to 5,500 ft, and Kopliku in the north to 7,500 ft. There are two danger areas activated by notice at least seven days ahead.
Other restrictions in Albania
- The authority has a legal duty to publish drone geographic zones in a single digital format, and we could not find that it has
- The Llogara pass carries a seasonal paragliding area — manned traffic rather than a drone rule, but a real hazard
- Kopliku covers part of the northern border area near Theth and Valbona
Insurance
Order 143 uses only the conditional EU wording — the operator confirms it will have adequate insurance where applicable law requires it — and we found no Albanian instrument setting a weight threshold or a minimum sum for drones. So there is no verified figure and no verified threshold. Carry cover, but do not assume Albanian law specifies what it must be.
Penalties
Order 143 contains no penalty provisions at all — it is purely operational. Penalties would sit in the Air Code of 2020, whose text we could not retrieve from any official source. We therefore publish no amounts, and any lek figure quoted elsewhere should be treated as unsourced unless it cites that Air Code directly.
Whatever the amount, the pattern across Europe is the same: paperwork failures are handled administratively, while flying near aircraft, over crowds, or inside a protected zone is what turns a case into a prosecution.
Visiting Albania with a drone
Albania is the awkward case. The registration article covers people resident in Albania and companies based there, with no fallback for anyone else. Either the duty does not reach a visitor, who then flies under the ordinary operating rules, or there is no lawful route for a visitor to fly a camera drone at all. No official source resolves it and we are not going to pick. Email dron@acaa.gov.al before you travel.
Commercial work
Specific category work is well documented and priced: authorisations run from 10,000 to 130,000 lek depending on the risk level, a light operator certificate is 110,000 lek, and a cross-border authorisation for an operator already approved in an EASA state is 60,000 lek. That cross-border route is the one part of the framework that clearly does accommodate foreign operators.
Location planning
These are well-known photographic subjects to research, not recommended launch points or proof that a flight is allowed. Check the exact route against official airspace, nature, land-manager and people restrictions.
- Butrint — UNESCO, no aviation restriction published, ask the site
- The Riviera at Ksamil, Dhërmi and Himara — dense in summer, so the 150 m standoff bites
- Theth and Valbona — near the Kopliku restricted area
- Berat and Gjirokastra — UNESCO towns, nothing published, Berat is near Kuçova
- Lake Koman and the ferry route
- The Llogara pass — paragliding traffic, published seasonally
Apps and official maps
- Albcontrol aeronautical publication - the only official source for the restricted areas, since no drone map exists
Practical tips
- Ask the authority whether you can register at all before you travel
- There is no official drone map — the military restricted areas are in the aeronautical publication
- Night flying is permitted with a green pulsing light
- No drone fine amounts are published anywhere, so treat quoted figures with suspicion
- Butrint and the Riviera have no published aviation restriction, which is not the same as being cleared
Questions about flying in Albania
Do I need to register to fly a drone in Albania?
Registration required — 2,000 lek for the operator ID. Outside the EU/EEA system. You need a separate registration here.
How high can I fly in Albania?
120 m from the closest point of the surface.
Do I need drone insurance in Albania?
Order 143 uses only the conditional EU wording — the operator confirms it will have adequate insurance where applicable law requires it — and we found no Albanian instrument setting a weight threshold or a minimum sum for drones. So there is no verified figure and no verified threshold. Carry cover, but do not assume Albanian law specifies what it must be.
Can I fly a drone at night in Albania?
Night flying is permitted, with a green pulsing light active on the aircraft. Night is defined as between the end of evening civil twilight and the start of morning civil twilight.
What are the penalties for breaking drone rules in Albania?
Order 143 contains no penalty provisions at all — it is purely operational. Penalties would sit in the Air Code of 2020, whose text we could not retrieve from any official source. We therefore publish no amounts, and any lek figure quoted elsewhere should be treated as unsourced unless it cites that Air Code directly.
Official sources
Primary sources used for this guide, checked September 2026. Open the live national source again before flying; geographical zones and temporary restrictions can change between reviews.
- National authority Autoriteti i Aviacionit Civil (Albanian Civil Aviation Authority) — official drone information
- Official zones and map Albcontrol AIP — Albcontrol
Rules change, and national authorities publish the current position. Before you fly, check Autoriteti i Aviacionit Civil (Albanian Civil Aviation Authority) — it is linked at the top of this page too.