Albania’s Civil Aviation Authority denied on Thursday media reports that flights to and from Italy aren’t suspended.

“According to the Directive of the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy on March 9, flights to and from Mother Teresa International Airport and 12 airports in the northern provinces of Italy were suspended. On March 10, the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy banned all flights between Albania and Italy”, the authority says.

The air carriers were allowed to repatriate the Italian nationals. Four flights from Tirana to Rome (FCO) were allowed for this purpose, on March 11 (with 178 passengers on board), March 12 (165 passengers), March 16 (167) and March 18 (170 passengers), operated by Blue Panorama and Albawings. Blue Panorama’s plane did not return to Tirana, while Albawings’ returned without any passenger on board.

“No passengers were transported from Italy to Albania, as the media outlet reported this fake news, but only four repatriation flights requested and managed by the Italian embassy in Tirana were allowed,” Albania’s Civil Aviation Authority says in a Facebook post.