Montenegro Airlines listed for sale

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Montenegro's Privatisation Council, headed by Prime Minister Milo Djukanović, has listed the country's national carrier for sale in 2016. The Ministry for Transport and Maritime Affairs has offered to sell a minority stake in the airline, which is to be offered to potential investors through an international tender. It is the third consecutive year that the airline has been listed for privatisation. Previous attempts to sell Montenegro Airlines have all failed. In 2009, Israel’s national carrier, El Al, teamed up with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in order to purchase a stake in Montenegro Airlines. El Al was interested in the carrier only if it gained control over Podgorica and Tivat airports as well, which the government deemed “unacceptable” at the time. In 2011, the Montenegrin government offered a 30% stake in its national airline. Arkia Israeli Airlines, El Al and Etihad Airways all purchased tender documentation but never made a takeover offer. Later that year, the government announced that Turkish Airlines was close to making a takeover bid for both the airline and the country’s airports but added it would not sell its national carrier at any cost. Plans to privatise the carrier in 2014 did not materialise either, however, the CEO of Montenegro Airlines, Daliborka Pejović, recently said, “Montenegro Airlines is in continuous contact with the Privatisation Council and is giving serious consideration to all letters of intent”. The carrier and Etihad Airways signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Strategic Commercial Cooperation this year and held their first joint meeting late last month. It is believed the deal could lead to a potential equity investment on behalf of the Emirati carrier.