TIRANA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The airline companies operating in Albania that cause delays in flights risk facing severe penalties, the chief executive of the Albanian Civil Aviation Authority Krislen Keri has said.

The Civil Aviation Authority's report for August 2018 depicts the month as the worst performing in the year in regards to delays and cancellations of flights from and to Tirana's International Airport.

The official data show that the company with the highest number of delays is "Fly Ernest" company, with 10 cancellations in 31 days, and with delays ranging from 3 hours to more than 6 hours.

"Albawings" is the company came the second in worst performing punctuality.

According to Keri, currently the two companies are under investigation, and they risk having their flight schedules reduced due to lack of adherence to the timetable.

The official warned that all companies must operate to the required performance standard.

"The authority has started administrative processes to investigate these cases and have kept us informed what will happen next; and thanks to the cooperation with Italian authorities, we have agreed that continuity will be allowed only on the basis of performance," said Keri.

The main reasons for flight delays are related to the capacity of companies and their fleets of aircraft.

According to Keri, in recent months there has been an increase in complaints.

"We have 1,500 passengers who have applied for refunds using our form. We have evidence that up to 50 percent of these passengers can be refunded with a monetary value or tickets that companies provide in exchange for travel," said Keri.