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Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday he’s pushing for a direct flight from the Big Apple to Albania – a convenient route for an ambassador to travel back and forth from home.
But Hizzoner – who jetted off to the Balkan country Sunday – insisted the purpose of his trip wasn’t to lobby for a gig overseas when he leaves office at the end of the year.
“There was much speculation about why I was here and what we were doing here,” Adams told reporters in the city of Tirana.
“It was for a simple reason: To say hello to a friend and learn from a friend and build a relationship with friendship that would not allow our oceans or seas to divide us,” he said at a press conference outside of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office.
Political insiders have been whispering for weeks that Adams was up for an ambassadorship in the Trump administration for dropping out of the mayoral race to consolidate the opposition to Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Adams won election as a Democrat but skipped the party primary in June as he was dogged by federal corruption charges dating back to the Biden administration that were dropped when President Trump returned to office this year.
Hizzoner continued his election bid as an independent but officially ended the run as donors dried up and he contended with abysmal polling numbers..
In Albania on Wednesday, he said he was advocating for tourism between the countries.
“I wanted to come here and talk about tourism and see how we can assist in utilizing not only my next few months in office, but even after office of getting a direct flight from New York City to Albania,” he said.
A City Hall spokesperson noted that talks with airlines were only preliminary — and reiterated that Adams’ trip was not related to a potential job after he leaves office.
The official trip was on a matter of business — with the mayor exploring opportunities to boost economic activity between the city and Eastern European nations, the spokesperson said.
Taxpayers are footing some of the bill for the mayor’s foreign excursion — though Adams’ and his security detail’s lodging and ground transportation is being paid for by the Albanian government, City Hall said.
