This lame duck still flies, but not with Turkey’s help.
Mayor Eric Adams jetted off to Albania for a four-day trip on Big Apple taxpayers’ dime, shortly after he dropped his re-election bid, officials said Monday.
The Albania excursion — first reported by NBC4 — isn’t a personal trip for the infamously travel perk-happy Adams, but instead part of his role as mayor of an international city, insisted City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak.
The trip came at the behest of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, city officials said.
“Over the next few days, Mayor Adams will travel to Albania, where he will meet with the prime minister, business and tech leaders, tour factories, and discuss new opportunities to boost economic activity and tourism to New York City,” she said.
Rumors swirled in recent weeks that Adams was up for an ambassadorship in the Trump administration as a sweetener for dropping out of the mayoral race to help scuttle the election of socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor.
The official trip likely will be one of Adams’ last during his first-and-only term — which was marked by an unprecedented federal indictment over him raking in $123,000 worth of lavish travel arrangements, including heavily discounted Turkish Airlines flights.
Adams denied partaking in Turkish graft and had his case controversially dismissed by President Trump’s Department of Justice.
City Hall officials, when asked about Adams’ Albania adventure, volunteered that he wouldn’t be flying on Turkish Airlines.
Adams flew Lufthansa when he headed out of New York City on Sunday, officials said.
As an official trip, some of Adams’ expenses will be paid for by New York City taxpayers, officials argued.
But Adams’ and his security detail’s lodging and ground transportation will be paid by the Albanian government, at roughly $200 and $90 a day, respectively, city officials revealed.
While City Hall officials were keen to contend Adams’ trip is part of his duties, the mayor does have a tangential personal tie to the Balkan nation.
Adams’ raunchy rapper son Jordan Coleman famously competed in the Albanian equivalent of “American Idol” during 2022 — and recently dropped five “party” tracks inspired by his Eastern European travels.
Hizzoner, while hobnobbing with an Albanian TV host during the United Nations General Assembly, referenced his son’s rap adventure and expressed his desire to follow in his footsteps.
“I’ve accomplished so many things, but what I have not accomplished — and I’m jealous of my son, he went to Albania and he performed there,” he said.
“Here in New York, this is Albania of America right here,” he said, repeating a mantra he uses to evoke the city’s melting pot.
Coleman won’t travel with Adams and wasn’t involved in the trip, city officials said.
Adams will return to New York City on Thursday.
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