Ryanair plans Montenegro expansion through Tivat


Europe's largest low cost airline, Ryanair, says it plans further expanding its operation from Montenegro after it announced the launch of its third route to the country, from Berlin to Podgorica, scheduled for this September. "This is the right time to come and expand our operations in Montenegro. Unfortunately, over the past three years, our growth has been limited due to fleet constraints, however, with the arrival of new aircraft we will certainly introduce new flights to Serbia and Montenegro. We are extremely interested in including Tivat to our network", the airline's Route Manager, Luis Fernandez-Mellado, says. "We have to concede that Eastern Europe is growing slowly in terms of new routes for us. However, we are trying, which is why we recently announced new services to Sofia, Niš and Podgorica. It's all part of our strategy. Ten aircraft are set to join our fleet soon, which will further fuel our network growth", Mr Fernandez-Mellado notes.

However, the no frills carrier warns that high fees at Montenegro's two international airports - Podgorica and Tivat - continue to be an issue. The country is one of the most expensive for Ryanair, with its charges exceeding other Eastern European nations. "The main issue with Montenegrin airports is that their fees are non-competitive, especially when compared to Greece or other similar holiday destinations. That is the main reason we are so late on the market, as we are more focused on more accessible destinations elsewhere. Tivat is one of the airports that is very appealing to us. If its fees were lower it would have been part of our plans much earlier", the carrier's Route Manager explains. He adds, "The expense of flying one passenger from Europe to Montenegro is much higher than, say, to Cyprus. That presents a big business barrier for us and is slowing our growth. There is no magic formula - the market is stimulated by low fares. That's a fact".

Ryanair currently operates flights from Charleroi and London to Podgorica, with services from Berlin to be introduced in a few months. The airline estimates it will carry some 90.000 passengers on the three routes within a one-year period. "Between London and Podgorica, some 85% of travellers are those living in Britain, but we can't estimate whether they are visiting family and friends or going on holiday. However, we can confirm that during the summer, flights to Montenegro are in demand, while during the winter, flights from Montenegro are more popular", the airline says. "Those travelling to Montenegro for a holiday on our flights usually stay for six days", the airline concludes.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:06

    Interesting facts in the article. Explains why airlines in general are staying away from Montenegro.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:13

    The same reason they don't fly to Dubrovnik and Split.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:04

      Managment DBV započeo pregovore s Ryanom!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:16

    "The expense of flying one passenger from Europe to Montenegro is much higher than, say, to Cyprus".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Well Montenegrin government always did say they want to develop elite tourism :D

      Delete
  4. The country is one of the most expensive for Ryanair, with its charges exceeding other Eastern European nations. ...


    So they want to fly for free

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:25

      No, they don't want to fly for fee, they want that someone will pay them to fly. It is not about low airport taxes, but airports must find funds for subventions.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:23

    In last 2 weeks:
    KL- 739 yesterday, 738 day before yesterday instead of 737-700
    AF - several times A319 and even A320 instead od A318
    LH - several times A320, even A321 to MUC
    TK - more than 10 flights with A321 instead of 738
    QR - several flights with A321 instead of A320
    SU - more than 10 flights with A320 instead of SSJ100

    For this summer one can see:
    - SU all summer with A320 instead of planed SSJ
    - AF on some days of the week A320 instead of previous planed A318
    - BA all summer A3230 instead of announced A319
    - TK on several days A321 and 739, even there will be some flights with A330 instead of planed 738
    - QR A321 on lot of flights instead od A320

    Huge demand for flights to ZAG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      Would you mind at least putting an "OT" at the start of your comment.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:30

      Why? That is normal practice on this blog and other blogs. Those data are fresh, they will not be fresh in 5-6 days when post will be about Zagreb airport again.

      I think everyone will know it is OT even if I don't put it in front.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:32

      It is common courtesy. No one can understand what you are writing about until they come to your last sentence. It is at least courtesy to the author of today's news.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:35

      No one complain when it is about Belgrade airport and Air Serbia. And in every, but every post we have some OT about JU and BEG.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:35

      Absolutely same thing goes for them.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:36

      Zes, but it's elegant to put OT. Lot of people on this forum do that.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:37

      So why do you have to be like them?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:40

      Anyway, really nice news for Zagreb!

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:49

      What's all the fuss about??Every summer season the majority of the airlines put bigger aircrafts not just to zagreb but to any other tourist destination!!!That information was useless!

      Delete
    10. Anonymous13:13

      Ha ha. Exactly.

      Delete
    11. Altought it's OT, the news is very intrestin :), is this afther the opening of the new terminal ?

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:32

      Not true. Most of companies does not put bigger plane espetialy notin April. Here we can see that it happend from time to time in Belgrade but it was never like that in Zagreb or elsewhere. Not even close.

      Delete
    13. Anonymous18:29

      Last anonymous realy?For your information this week in Greece it's easter time.well if mykonos or santorini airports could handle an airbus 380,it'certain the companies should put it,so don't tell me about seasonality in April in Zagreb or elsewhere.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous18:41

      Great job, Zagreb, looking forward to April results!

      Delete
    15. Anonymous20:16

      Well, honestly we can hardly call 738 to 739 or A319 to A320 as serious increase, let alone the A318... It's quite ridiculous and tells about a dozen of passengers more at best on each flight. Besides, all equipment change are not for the load but simply due to unavailability of different aircraft equipment.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous23:48

      It's not about one or two plane, but fact that so many companies upgrate planes in just few days and during winter. Usualy here we can read how people are happy that one A321 came to BEG, or ZAG, or SJJ... but fact is that there was some 40-45 upgrades in just two weeks. Plus, bigger planes in so many companies in top season shows that demand is big.

      I don't get this about Orthodox Christmas. That does not have anything with Zagreb and especially has nothing with last two weeks.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous23:48

      winter = summer*

      Delete
    18. Anonymous01:40

      Sta ima veze ako se pise kad dodje A321 .
      INN-NS

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:23

    I'm not the one that usually agrees with Ryanair and their policies but I do understand why for example Tivat or Nis or Osijek should pay them to fly there. These are small airports in unknown cities. No one's heard of them. If you want to get tourists you will have to give money to Ryanair to promote the city and put it on the map. That's how you start.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      OK, fair enough, but why than Zadar has to pay millions for "promotion"? It is top tourist destination with more than 2 million tourists.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:59

      Re: Zadar

      No, Zadar is not a top tourist destination, but Split and Dubrovnik are. That's why Zadar has to pay a lot to be able to make airlines fly there directly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:23

      Same with PUY, not a top tourist destination (maybe if they develop the Brioni riviera project in the future, things will change), Ryanair could have definitely more destinations, but they ask a lot of money.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous00:03

      Zadar county last year had more tourist than Dubrovnik county. Just few weeks ago Zadar was proclame as "the best destination in Europe".

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:40

    I wonder if TIV becoming a FR focus city could be bad news for DBV. The two airports are not far apart and I can't imagine it's that cheap to fly into Dubrovnik unless you are flying in on one of those charter flights.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:55

    Pobeda will add Moscow(Vnukovo)~Tivat flights from 11 june.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02

      one weekly on Saturdays:
      DP829 VKO0920 – 1130TIV 73H 6
      DP830 TIV1230 – 1630VKO 73H 6

      http://airlineroute.net/2016/04/29/dp-tiv-jun16/

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:59

      Wonder which destination will be the next for Pobeda. It has been proved that LCC works for this region and I think that demand is there. My guess are either INI or SKP. However, Pobeda's strategy is a bit different than W6's for exapmle. When they open a route they start with at least a daily frequency, not 2 or 3 weekly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:38

      It's only seasonal. They won't stick around after summer.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:25

    OT:
    When will RYANAIR return to Maribor? Question of time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:25

      Honestly they should have linked up with them instead of Express Airways.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous12:19

    Very good news.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous13:56

    OT: http://www.exyuaviation.com/2016/04/air-france-klm-sees-strong-ex-yu.html?showComment=1461897783290#c7803555267868930581

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous15:00

    Tivat might steal the passengers from western Serbian airports if they don't hurry up and open them. Kraljevo is already almost operational!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you know where TIV is?

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous18:09

      Yes, it is 300km away but what I meant is that FR are getting really active in this region and they cover all airports very soon. Novi Pazar, Sjenica they can benefit from those flights for them it's too far and more expensive to go to BEG. OK, TIV not best example but TGD certainly is!

      Delete
  13. Anonymous21:05

    OT

    Adria/Austrian deal
    http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/45911-austrian-to-lease-a-crj-900-this-summer-season

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21:26

      http://www.exyuaviation.com/p/adria-to-operate-some-austrian-airlines.html

      Delete
  14. LaBno21:27

    OT - another great analysis of the Croatian market can be found on this website's forum, in the Croatia section. Have fun reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LaBno21:28

      With credits to anna.aero!

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:20

    U2 subvention funds is approx 2M EUR! PortoMNE is biggest source of that money,but not the only one.So,if FR want to fly to TIV, assuming the same amount of money(for 2 dest,full IATA season),that's 4M EUR!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      TIV works on maximum capacity,with full-fare(ground handling) airlines,so there is no need for LCC,especially during summer.If they want to fly, give'm all free(symbolic price),but in winter season.If they want 4 days/1rotation per day, in summer, they must fly min 80% same 4/1 schedule in winter.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous00:35

    Please can someone let me know will Rayan aire or Easy Jet fly to TIVAT from Manchester in winter time.Iknow a lot of people will be interested

    ReplyDelete

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