a fleet of about 15,000 trucks. According to official figures, in 1987 Albania's roadways carried about 66 percent of the country's total freight tonnage. Up until 1991, the total number of cars in Albania was between 5000 and 7000. In 1991, the Albanian government lifted the decades-old ban on private-vehicle ownership. As a result, car imports numbered about 1,500 per month. Traffic in the capital remained light, but traffic lights and other control devices were urgently needed to deal with the multiplying number of privately owned cars. Albanian entrepreneurs also imported used Greek buses and started carrying passengers on intercity routes that did not exist or had been poorly serviced during the communist era. The population is known for owning a large fleet of German cars. In particular, Mercedes Benz vehicles are widely preferred not only for their status symbol, but also for their durability on rural roads where half of the population resides, and the cheap price for buying used ones. Mercedes Benz cars were owned by Enver Hoxha and reportedly favored by his officials, giving the brand a foothold even before private ownership of cars was legalized. Air pollution has become a pressing concern as the number of cars has increased to over 300,000 in the capital Tirana. These are mostly 1990s and early 2000s diesel cars, while it is widely believed that the fuel used in Albania contains larger amounts of sulfur and lead than in the European Union. Albania is probably one of the few countries in Europe where vehicles imported from the United States, and from left hand traffic jurisdictions (for example the United Kingdom) can be found on the streets without any modifications brought from expats living abroad. Transportation Air The most important and biggest international airport of the country is the Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza (TIA), in Tirana, the country's capital. The total number of passengers for the country was 1,997,044 in 2015 and 2,200,449 in 2016. From January to October 2017, the airport served 2,224,833 passengers and handled 1,857 tons of goods. In 2005, an American-German consortium was granted a 20-year concession over TIA and Albanian airspace. Despite the considerable modernization of the airport, prices are among the highest in Europe because of the monopoly over Albanian airspace, and limited carrier choices. As a result, low-cost carriers are discouraged from entering the Albanian market, while neighboring countries offer much lower prices