Wizz Air considering Podgorica flights

Wizz Air mulling flights to Montenegro from several cities

Budget airline Wizz Air is considering further expanding its reach in the former Yugoslavia by launching flights to Podgorica, the Hungarian Ambassador to Montenegro, Krisztian Posa, has said. According to the Ambassador, the Hungarian low cost airline is interested in launching flights to Podgorica from several European cities. “Montenegro is an interesting tourist destination and improvements in infrastructure, such as increased security, quality and speed of travel, should be welcomed and further supported”, Mr. Posa said. Wizz Air’s potential flights to Montenegro would mark the arrival of a second major low cost carrier to the country following Ryanair. Europe’s largest low cost airline operates year-long flights from London Stansted Airport to the Montenegrin capital, as well as a seasonal service from Charleroi. It has committed to further expanding its destination network from Podgorica as well as Tivat in the coming years.

Montenegro Airlines has lobbied strongly against budget carriers and Wizz Air’s arrival would put further pressure on the airline. Its former CEO, Zoran Djurišić, said last year, “Montenegro Airlines struggles for eight months while low cost airlines operate flights during the high season for three months and fill their planes to London, Paris and Moscow, services which we have nurtured for the other eight months”. However, Montenegro Airlines’ new management, which took office last year, has taken on a different approach. Earlier this month, CEO Daliborka Pejović said, “The essence of competition is to force the other company to dominate in the market and expand its network. Therefore, we also expect to improve our business. In my opinion, competition always encourages an improvement in our services, and it is our customers who benefit the most from it”.

Wizz Air has been extremely successful in conquering EX-YU markets where low cost airlines have had a limited presence. Wizz Air is the busiest carrier operating out of Macedonia, the second busiest in Serbia and the fourth busiest in Slovenia so far this year. Furthermore, Wizz recently announced it would open its nineteenth base in Tuzla, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also considering launching flights from Niš, in Serbia’s south-east, next year, as well as expanding its network out of Skopje. On the other hand, the airline has a limited presence in Croatia, with seasonal flights to Split, and it does not offer services to Pristina.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:05

    Interesting about Ljubljana. Can anyone tell me which are the second and third since obviously Adria is number one.

    I have no sympathies for Montenegro Airlines and I can't wait for them to go bankrupt. Not only have they fired all the Serbs working there but they have also refused to cooperate with JU.

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    1. Anonymous09:16

      Turkish and easy

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    2. Anonymous09:25

      Does anyone know where is Air Serbia in Ljubljana? I am sure they will climb higher by summer with additional capacity and frequencies.

      Delete
    3. Airline perofrmance at Ljubljana Airport Q1 - Q3 can be found here

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:31

      Thank for the chart!
      Looking at the numbers, thanks to December increase JU might overtake AF. Next year I am sure they will also overtake or come close to Wizz Air. After all, 14 weekly frequencies where five are with the B733 is not to be neglected.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:18

      With the planned increase starting in December and an average load factor of 70% JU should overtake EasyJet, let alone TK and Wizz, in 2015.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:14

    Good news for Podgorica! Does anybody know how many passengers have Podgorica and Tivat handled so far?

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  3. Anonymous09:58

    TIV cca 900.000.

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    1. Anonymous13:43

      Arrival of Wizz will accelerate problems at Montenegro Airlines, not the other way around. Podgorica and Tivat will become more like Skopje with Wizz, Air Serbia and others dominating the market until YM fades away.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous10:37

    Belgrade airport has FINALLY updated their statistics for October.

    406.757 passengers were handled, up from 294.350 last year (+38%).

    Total passengers so far: 3.996.988 (+32%).

    Cargo: +4%
    Mail: +20%
    Movement: +23%

    These are some fantastic numbers, BEG has so far handled around 900.000 more passengers than last year!

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    1. Anonymous10:40

      Jan-Oct 2013: 3.024.850 passengers.
      Jan-Oct 2014: 3.996.988 passengers.

      Even if BEG records 0% growth in November and December, the airport would handled 4.454.000 passengers! I guess it is realistic to expect this year's numbers to be around 4.6 million.

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    2. Anonymous11:00

      Belgrade is nicely closing the gap with Bucharest. Let's hope this trend continues in 2015. I am happy that JU is working closely with some foreign airlines in Belgrade.

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    3. Anonymous12:43

      Omfg 40% growth in October. I did not expect this

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    4. Anonymous13:06

      It's actually 38%. ;)

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    5. Anonymous13:47

      If these numbers are true our Prime Minister was just caught lying.

      4 millionth pax was officially recorded on November 4th.

      Does anyone of you trully believe that it took BEG four days to handle additional 3012 passengers while at the same time they were handling 13.500 pax daily in October.

      Im wondering who is the lucky winner? Dane's or Vucic's relative? Shameful and disgusting

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    6. Anonymous13:58

      @Previous Anonymous

      What is the lie about?

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    7. Anonymous14:39

      They used first published statistics, how could they have known otherwise? And lol at PM or ASL CEO "rigging" the award process, like they have nothing else smarter to do.

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    8. Anonymous14:55

      Would be nice to see a breakdown at how many passengers are just transferring through BEG and how many are originating and terminating their travel in BEG. Seems no one has an answer to this.

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    9. Anonymous15:48

      Of course no one has because people working at Belgrade airport are totally useless and do not track those kind of statistics, even though the airlines flying there could provide them with this kind of information.

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    10. Anonymous17:55

      Belgrade airport must know the exact number of transfer passengers because airport tax is much lower for this kind of passengers, just 4 euros instead of 16.5 euros.

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    11. Anonymous18:10

      What has ASL CEO got to do with who the airport decided was their 4millionth passenger ?

      I could understand if it was ASL who was making noise about 4millionth passenger if was theirs and then somehow 'rigging' the outcome - but it was the airport who made this decision.

      From what i can remember from the photos, ASL CEO wasn't even there when they announced this.

      So c'mon people, this is a stretch at best ....

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  5. Anonymous11:54

    Nice addition for Podgorica!

    Prague – Podgorica 30MAY15 – 26SEP15 2 weekly
    QS1070 PRG1250 – 1435TGD 738 36
    QS1071 TGD1520 – 1705PRG 738 36

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thats nice news, thanks for sharing!

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  6. Anonymous12:24

    972 138 passengers more than last year.
    BEG is on fire!!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:27

      Yes! In the end growth will be like 1,2 million extra passengers.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous13:38

    lets say 4.5-4.7 mil this year on BEG, with roumors about ASL adding a few more planes very soon (even if widebody in march roumors arent true), does anyone have the simplest idea what will happen to BEG?
    the growth is too massive and no major capacity increase is in sight (not even the renovation of old A gates).. i find it hard to believe that asl etihad job never considered their major chokepoint, their "hub".
    good luck to all

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:08

      It was announced that the renovation of the A6-A10 gate area should be completed by summer 2015. I just don't know what they will do first, the reconstruction of that area or the replacement of the C1-C5 gates.

      I just really hope that the C1-C5 gates will be the same as A1-A5+C6. Otherwise BEG will look really pathetic.

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    2. Anonymous14:13

      Like it said in the article a few days ago here the C1-5 gates are not being replaced they are just being technologically upgraded. The actual airbridge is the same. And it says there that they will finish all the upgrade by 15 feb.

      http://exyuaviation.blogspot.com.au/p/blog-page_97.html

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    3. Anonymous15:47

      That's very good because these gates are in a really bad condition, especially the wheels. They were in desperate need of change.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous15:11

    Wizz has already slots for London Luton - Podgorica !

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  9. Anonymous17:39

    Shall we play the prediction game in order to guess what the situation in ex-Yugoslavia will look like at the end of the year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:42

      ...yeah, we had that guy telling us Belgrade will handle 3.6 million this year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:44

      Hahaha was it 3.6? I seem to recall it was a bit more than that.

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    3. Anonymous17:47

      In 2014 the biggest winners are Skopje and Belgrade both in terms of passenger growth and the number of lines/frequencies announced.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:51

      ...and the biggest losers are?

      Yeah, i think he said 3.8. Just missed a million, not a big deal ;)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:55

      Hahahah oups, not that much. :D

      So what will be the top five in the end?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:10

      Biggest loser in my opinion would be ZAG, because even 8% growth goal made by concession holders will not be reached, and decline in cargo is even bigger. Atleast if they continue at this rate, their new terminal will be enough for 30 years of growth :) congratulations to BEG

      Delete
    7. Anonymous18:30

      Thank you for your constructive comment. Do you know what could be a reason for falling cargo numbers?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous18:34

      I think our government must find a way to keep OU alive because if they bankrupt then fares out of Zagreb will get much expensive. But of course, as always, politics will have the main role there.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous18:36

      The biggest loser is Nis, still no flights, Air Serbia is a national carrier but doesn't want to do anything about it!

      Delete
    10. Anonymous18:41

      anon @ 6.36pm - job of national carrier is to be profitable, not to fly unprofitable routes from Nis. Nis can't sustain any airline unless it is given subsidies and no one has any money to subsidise Air Serbia flying.

      Furthermore, strategy of Air Serbia is to become a hub carrier at BEG airport. That means ALL flights flying via BEG.

      Therefore no room for any flights directly from Nis to other destinations.

      Best bet for Nis is to attract an LCC, just like Tuzla

      Delete
    11. BEG is impressive for sure, but I am also amazed by what TZL has done. An airport with practically no passengers few years ago, is about to offer flights to 7 destinations this summer.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous19:01

      Nislije, dosadniji ste od INN- NS...

      Delete
    13. Anonymous19:38

      Pa ljudi ne mogu da shvate da u Nisu jednostavno nema mesta za aviokompanije kao sto je Air Serbia. Vi bre jedva skupljate za racune, ko ce da plati 200+ eura za let do Moskve recimo ili oko 150eura za Cirih? U Nisu samo moze niskotarigna aviokompanija da opstane, i ne moram da budem strucnjak da bi to znao. SVAKA aviokompanija koja je saobracala iz Nisa je na kraju otkazala letove. Kako ne mozete da shvatite da duznost nacionalne aviokompanije nije da preozi putnike iz svih gradova u drzavi. Pogledaj Lufhhansu- u Nemackoj ima vise od 30 aerodroma, Lufthansa se fokusira vecinom na Frankfurt i Minhen. Ima i nesto malo iz Stutgartai Dizeldorfa, iz Berlina, koji je glavni grad Nemacke, ne mozes da vidis Lufthansu, samo za Dizeldorf, Frankfurt i Minhen. Tako rade velike svetske aviokompanije, fokusiraju se na 2-3 grada, kako bi sto bolje funkcionisale, a ostalima- low cost. Evo vidi Hrvatsku, OU jedva sklapa kraj s krajem, jer dele avione po Zagrebu, Splitu, Dubrovniku, Zadru..Na kraju sta- svakom gradu po 2-3 aviona i nista nisu postigli. Air Serbia bi trebala da se koncentrise na Beograd, a da iz vecih gradova u Srbiji (Nis, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Subotica, Uzice...) moze da se stigne relativno brzo do Beograda, recimo brzim vozom. U Madjarskoj radi samo aerodrom u Budimpesti (ima i nesto malo letova iz Debrecena), ali su svo gradovi u Madjarskoj odlicno povezani sa glavnim, pa nikome nije tesko da putuje 2-3 sata do aerodroma u Budimpesti. Ne moze drzava da ima vise aerodroma ako nema turizma, ili jaku ekonomiju, inace sve propada. Ja bi eventualno stavio ASL da leti za Nis iz Beograda mozda dvaput dnevno, i recimo stavio neki brzi voz izmedju Nisa i Beograda, i onda Nislijama nije problem da putuju 2 sata do Beograda valjda. Ako ne, Air Serbia bez problema moze da prezivi i bez Srbije (ne racunam Beograd), transfer-putnici su i vecina njihovih putnika.Jednostavno ne mozete da ocekujete Air Serbiju u Nisu. Promuckajte glavom malo pre nego sto pisete gluposti, i prestanite da uporedjujete Air Serbiju i low-cost aviokompanije, to su nebo i zemlja. Isto tako sam video da neki lupetaju da je Air Serbija veoma skupa. To seljastvo i neinformisanje jos nisam video, pa Air Serbija je daleko jeftinija od mnogih u Evropi, jel ste pogledali nekada cene Lufthanse, Turkish Airlines-a, Aeroflota do odredjenih linija do kojih ASL leti?

      Delete
    14. Anonymous21:51

      E nek si im rekao! :) Ja ipak hoću aerodrom u NS za low cost letove...

      Delete
  10. Anonymous19:35

    Priča se da je Milo video kako DBV dobija mostove, pa je doveo Vinci da mu oni isto naprave u Crnoj Gori! Pa jel moguće kakva taština!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:53

      Danas vesti kažu da je bio Vinci na razgovoru. Možda da prošire terminal u Tivtu ili da naprave novi kontrolni toranj?

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. SMATSA pravi novi toranj u BEG i ja TIV

      Delete
  11. Anonymous20:19

    Anonymous 7.38... Svaka ti je ka u Njegosa!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous20:39

      Ja mislim da je dobro sve rekao..
      .
      Jao cekaj pa to sam ja......

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:17

      Svi smo mi po malo anonymousi ;)

      Delete
  12. Anonymous21:52

    Ja nisam napisao one gluposti za liniju ZAG-BEG
    A A330 dolazi u Martu -Aprilu a mi mozete da pricate ovde da nece doci ;)
    INN-NS

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:58

      Otkud znas? Mislim da bi Air Serbija ili Vucko to vec uveliko najavili i proslavljali unapred da je istina, msm kazem da ne verujem da bi mogli da prodaju karte za long-haul letove za samo 4 meseca pre nego sto pocinju. Vise je kao da ce ih najaviti u februaru, a pocece negde tokom letnje sezone, logicnije je.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21:59

      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22:09

      Ja vam lepo govorim da ce A330 doci u Martu-Aprilu a linije za aziju krecu pred leto gospodo filozofi ;)
      INN-NS

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    4. Anonymous22:25

      Ajde klinac na spavanje. Do prije dva mjeseca nisi znao da je CEO Lufthanse Carsten Spohr, a sad imaš pristup informacijama koje nisu nimalo vjerovatne. Vidiš da netko radi budalu od tebe tko ti je to provalio.

      Što smiješ biti budan u ovo doba?

      Delete
    5. JATBEGMEL22:39

      Nesto se Peking spominje.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous22:52

      JATBEGMEL
      Jeste PEK je i jos jedan grad u Aziji hvala sto ste to komentarisali ako se cesto neslazemo.
      Hvala vam puno sad ce konacno neko shvatiti da je ovo istina =D
      INN-NS

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    7. Anonymous23:06

      ^JATBEGMEL are you actually serious? If you are plz more info or at least a source

      Delete
    8. Anonymous00:01

      To je kao da ja napisem da ce Air Serbia leteti na prolece od Insbruka do Nisa, LOL

      Delete
    9. Anonymous00:08

      Niste ni malo smesni sta treba da kazemo imena tih ljudi necete ih nikad saznati ali ce te videti u martu - aprilu A330 koji nosi livery ASL ;)
      Nevredjajte coveka samo zato sto prica isto kao i ja .
      Njemmu hvala na podrsci i ako se cesto ne slazemo za neke stvari .
      Nije Insbruck nego Innsbruck i idite naucite koji IATA kod trebace vam za nove linije ASL posto jednu vec znate druga je u isto u Aziji =D
      INN-NS

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    10. Anonymous00:26

      Postoje dve mogucnosti : prva i logicnija je da nikakvog 330 i nikakvih linija ka Aziji nece biti iz BEG sa JU jer je jedna od funkcija JU punjenje aviona EY prema i iz Australazije. Druga, i ne toliko logicna, ali jednako moguca, pa cak i izvesnija, je da ce 330 doci i krenuti sa neprofitabilnim letenjem prema Istoku, i tako nastaviti koruptivno-mafijasku operaciju kojom se iz dzepa gradjana Srbije izbija jos vise novca za najam jos skupljih i vecih aviona i otvaranje jos neprofitabilnijih linija, i stvaranje jos vecih dugova prema aerodromu Nikola Tesla koji ce na kraju biti zbog toga dat u bescenje istim gazdama koji upravljaju Er Srbijom, a sve u cilju samoreklame i zgrtanja ogromnog bogatstva nekolicine ljudi u Srbiji i UAE. Mozda si nedovoljno odrastao da razumes o cemu pisem ali to sto pisem i ovako nije namenjeno tebi nego ozbiljnijim ljudima ovde

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    11. Anonymous00:35

      a sta bi moglo da bude drugo nego Peking i Shanghai.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous00:36

      Tajpej!

      Delete
    13. Anonymous00:59

      Anonymous 12:26... Ti si gori od balavca..

      Delete
    14. Anonymous01:54

      da da novi zeland

      Delete
    15. Anonymous01:56

      Anonymous at 12:59 AM
      Zaobidjite ovaj istiniti post ako je moguce.
      Nije TPE
      Anonymous at 12:35 AM
      Jeste to su te linije dve =D
      Opet ponavljam A330 stize Mart-April =DD
      INN-NS

      Delete
    16. Anonymous09:20

      Jeste, balavce, stize jedan i odmah se ukljucuje na dve ne profitabilne linije za Aziju.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous10:47

      Lud'lo danas... ;)

      Delete
    18. Anonymous11:56

      Smanjite vase frustrurane Hrvatske dozivljaje, ASL ima mnogo sansi za te linije. Cek cek, jel ste mozda ljubomorni zato sto ce ASL imati te letove na mnogo vecoj bazi nego ono iz Zadra sta jos nije ni potvrdjeno? Pa da, tipican nacionalizam... Bolje idite placite negde, vecina vas do pre dve godine govorila:"Ma sta ima Etihad da kupi Jat Etihad nema sta tamo da trazi on ce izabrati OU jer OU ima mnogo vece sanse blablabla..." a onda vidis ovde naslov "Etihad kupuje Jat", ugasih kompjuter i nikako ne komentarises negativno jer ces ispasti budala. Isto tako kad pocnu te linije, vi cete procitati to, pa cete otici u sramu ili doci da komentarisete kako je Etihad (ili ti ASL) nesposoban i uvodi neprofitabilnu liniju, zbog koje ce gradjani placati blablabla.... Smanjitte frustracije. Naucite da gubite. Direktor Etihada je rekao da ce ASL-u verovatno biti dodeljena 2 A330-200 aviona od Etihada, samo kada se postignu svi dogovori i sve potpise sa zemljama u koje ASL treba da leti. Vas jedino vode vase emocije, a zaboravljate koliko bi Kineza recimo letelo ASL-om do BEG-a, i dalje u Hrvatsku, jer dosta Kineza posecuje Hrvatsku. Isto sa Grckom, Madjarskom... Ni jedna od ovih zemalja nema letove za Kinu tokom cele godine, osim Air China koja leti iz Atine za Peking, i koliko ja znam to funkcionise kao PEK-MUC via ATH. Razmislite malo pre nego sto jedino sto napisete bude "Grohotom se smijem" ili "Blavce" samo jer vas izludjuje mogucnost da ce ASL imati long-haul linije.

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  13. Anonymous21:57

    Wizz ordered enough planes to more than double their current fleet so they are going to be very agressive with expansion plans. Instead of targeting abandoned or distressed airports (like Tuzla) for expansion they will also have to expand to other airports in the Ex Yu. Montenegro, Nis, new LCC terminal in Sarajevo, future LCC terminal in Zagreb (once new terminal is open, existing one will be converted to LCC) are all likely to get Wizz service in the future. They need a lot of new airports for all those future planes and airports won't have to offer as many freebies to attract them.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:00

      It would be nice see them flying from Nis, Podgorica, Tivat, Ohrid, Mostar, Zadar, Rijeka, Osijek, Kraljevo..

      Delete