Montenegro Airlines unable to operate Belgrade charters
The Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate has denied issuing a license to Montenegro Airlines to operate charter flights from Belgrade to Palma de Mallorca in Spain. The Directorate’s spokeswomen Katarina Andrić-Milosavljević said that under the first phase of the Open Sky Agreement, which Serbia is a party to, the country has no obligation to permit fifth freedom rights to airlines. Fifth freedom rights in this case would allow a foreign carrier (Montenegro Airlines) to operate out of Serbia to a country other than its own (Spain). She went on to explain that Wizz Air was granted such a license due to the impact it will have on the development of air travel in Serbia.This is not the first time Montenegro Airlines has been denied to operate flights out of Serbia. After the breakup of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, the Montenegrin carrier lost its rights to operate the lucrative Belgrade – Zurich service and, as a result, planed to set up a Serbian registered airline in Niš, to be named Master Airways. The airline never received the green light from the authorities. Similarly, Jat Airways lost its rights to operate seasonal summer flights from Tivat to other European cities. More recently, Switzerland denied the Montenegrin carrier rights to operate flights from Niš to Zurich, despite the fact that the Serbian authorities approved the service.
Montenegro Airlines was also planning on applying for charter flights from Belgrade to Greece. However, after this decision from the Serbian Directorate, the airline might relocate these flights to Niš as there is a greater chance for the carrier to gain all necessary licenses.
This summer Spanair is offering scheduled flights from Barcelona and charters from Mallorca to Belgrade, while Jat Airways is offering flights to Girona on the Costa Brava coastline.
Well makes perfect sense to not allow them... It's not our problem their government wanted bright new aircraft which they actually did not need them.
ReplyDeleteWow. So Serbia wants to be part of EU, Open Skies, modern democratic western world, but it won't respect the rules when it comes that another airline, with much newer and better planes, offering a better service as it is scared from competition?
ReplyDeleteI thought Serbia was going forward. I was proven wrong.
Macedon:
ReplyDeleteYes Serbia is going forward, just because we would like to be part of the EU doesn't mean that we have to do anything. We are not that desperate.
Plus, these charters are offered by Spanair which is a Star Alliance member and has good equipment. Having some random carrier from some random and small country operate them seems pointless to me.
On the other hand, now that I think of it, only 44% of the Serbian population supports the entry into the Union which kind of makes your argument pointless and makes you look just plain ignorant.
Charters from BEG to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, are served by 8 non-Serbian and 2 Serbian companies in total. Why would YM be allowed to that from BEG?
ReplyDeleteYM has overcapacity problem and they sholud explain that to their owner and not to blame any other for their missplanning.
Serbian CAD acts very professionally and offer them INI. If YM still don`t like the decision, should anybody cry over their problem?
And then let's not forget that Switzerland also denied them freedom rights. It's not only Serbia.
ReplyDeletePure politics...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, they should allow YM at least to form a INI base. That would be good in many levels.
OT
Wow, Adria sent their A320 on the morning JP808/809 flight to Belgrade today. Really!?
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter if 44% of Serbian population support EU or not. Your government has set a goal to be part of the EU, has accepted many EU laws and should prove that its intentions and guarantees as a country are firm and not to show some third world country selective approaches and standards.
What is more moron thing to say, well, we will let Wizz Air to do business but not Montenegro. Why...well, because we said so.
If you ask what the people want in each country, you will find chaos. Politicians are there to have a vision and strong decisions that will make the country better and more powerful in terms of economic and social standards.
Just remember yourself that Serbia was the last to join EUROCONTROL, long after Bosnia did so. Serbia has a very very long road to go before even thinking to apply for membership and start doing the chapters with EU, but you must start from the very beginnings. This kind of actions, are clearly setting the country back.
@Macedon:
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know Montenegro has a protectionist policy of its airspace and national airline... So why would we give them the rights if they didnt give them to us (Tivat charters by JAT)?
The role of any government is to protect the rights and to fulfil the needs and demands of the people which democratically elected them.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter if the Serbian government wants to join the EU, if their policies are not in line with the will of the people then they will pay the toll at the next elections.
After the mismanagment of the crisis the current coaliting is faced with a sharp poll in numbers.
Not to mention that they will get another embarassment when it is publicly announced that we will not be getting the candidate status this year! This is not just me ranting but I know this from a reliable source.
Plus, as some mentioned here, it's not as if we are the only ones to be the bad guys, the Montenegran government doesn't allow Jat the same thing so why should we?
Additionally Mr. Djukanovic's recent anti-Serbian rant might have contributed to making this decision.
This Serbian CAD move is fully in line with EU regulation.
ReplyDeleteAnd it still makes them possible to fly from Serbia`s 2nd airport - INI.
As the article makes mention no country is under obligation to provide fifth freedom rights to airlines, why should Serbia be any different? Anonymous #1 is completely right, mismanagement of YM, unnecessary over expansion cannot be blamed on Serbia.
ReplyDeleteI agree with JU500 however, YM should be allowed to start up services from Nis. Clearly Jat isn't willing to invest in Nis, if you want Nis to work, give YM some incentive to get things rolling.
ReplyDelete@ Macedon your comments are completely baseless. As it says in the news Serbia is implementing phase 1 of the open skies and doesn’t need to give fifth freedoms to anyone. The fact it gave it to Wizz shows that it is much more liberal than other countries. Also, Germany, which you probably consider the bastion of democracy, recently denied more landing slots to EK, same in Canada. France denied giving Ryanair rights on certain routes from the country to protect Air France. 3 years ago JU was denied from flying to Hamburg because they had a codeshare with EK from Hamburg to New York which Lufthansa didn’t like. It preferred JU to feed passengers on its own US flights.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand why is everyone so keen on havving YM fly out of Nis?? It's not like they have their act pulled togehter at home. What guarantees that they will manage their own airline well in Nis??
ReplyDeleteI am sure that they will keep on receiving subsidies from the city while overcharging people for the tickets.
Also, the fact that there are no airlines flying to the airport should clearly send a message to the dreamers on here, Nis isn't ready to independently sustain flights to/out of the city.
he city should rather concentrate on the developpment of the small and medium sized corporations which will in their own turn create the need for air travel.
Jesus do we Serbs alwayshave to build the house from the roof???
I don't get why everyone is always so negative to every decision made in ex-yu. I say let YM fly from BEG to Spain, Greece or any other country. It will only bring more money and give people of Serbia a larger variety of airlines to choose from.
ReplyDeleteIn Australia we have at least 4 different airlines who all fly from and to the same city at least 5 times a day and it works. I know you can't compare Serbia with Australia but I'm trying to say, unless you try it, how would you know if it's profitable or not? If it wasn't profitable 3 years ago, it might be now.
So I say stop complaining and start taking some risks!
Why the double standards? Why Wizz Air can, and Montenegro can not? If competetion, JAT should be scared of Wizz Air and not Montenegro.
ReplyDeleteI thought Serbia knew better. Still same old...
Australian anonymous:
ReplyDeleteYou are argument is out of place. It should not be directed towards the Serbs but rather towards the Montenegran side which has its airport locked for the majority of foreign airlines.
Belgrade is served by 32 airlines which means that our government encourages all sorts of competition.
For all those who keep on ranting on how this is not fair or God knows what, well here it is. The reason why we do not want to allow YM to operate these kinds of flights and why they have been attributed the shitty marketless airport in Nis is simply because we used to live in a same country and we used to contribute over 90% of the common budget of Serbia and Montenegro. They have milked us as much as they could only to bitchslap us in 2006 and abandon the union. I for one am happy because we finally got our own country, Serbia and not some disfunctional ones like S&M or Yugoslavia.
That is why they shouldn't be allowed. They wanted to be an idependent state well they have it. The world of politics is an unfair world and you can't have a selective independece, you have it all or nothing.
Montenegro Airlines, thank you and goodbye.
This is not fair. Hungarian Wizz Air in our nearing of Montenegro Airlines.
ReplyDeleteDouble standard applies here as in all of Serbia.
And that's not good at the end for travelers from Serbia, they are seriously affected.
I love hearing from the detractors. I wonder though why Montenegro sees so few airlines flying to it? Sure size, and economy are factors, but a massive factor is also YM's veto over who can and who can't fly into the country. You can hardly scream 'double standards' when you yourself are part of it. You can't deny airliners rights in Montenegro to protect your own bottom line, YM have stated this loud and clear, and then expect to go out and have 'freedom of competition' rain down on your endeavors by trying to capitalise on another markets successes. Now that's double standards!
ReplyDeleteSerbia have done a great thing with Wizz Air, allowing it to really open up the country to many many destinations. It's a win, win for Serbia. Allowing YM to cherry pick one profitable route that's already well serviced adds nothing to Serbia's air transport expansion. If however YM wanted to open up a route not currently serviced out of Serbia, then I'd be all for it, however what they're attempting to do now is nothing more than panicking at the their financial situation.
Can people stop complaining about Wizz Air and Montenegro. They are two completely different airlines with a completely different business models.
ReplyDeleteWizz Air has committed itself to Serbia on a yearly basis by opening new routes and making Belgrade more accessible to foreigners. By having Wizz Air in Belgrade it meant that Serbs didn't have to travel to Temisora or Osijek to catch a cheap flight. As some mentioned here, now we have people from eastern Croatia flying on Wizz Air.
That is why Wizz Air should be allowed to fly out of Belgrade. What does Montenegro Airlines want to do? Come for one summer and scavange some of the summer charters from Spanair, which, just like Wizz Air has commited itself to the Serbian market by not flying out of Barcelona on a purely seasonal basis.
So why would Serbia shoot itself in the foot by allowing this mismanaged airline to operate flights?
If they are so keen on expanding and spreading their wings out of Montenegro they can operate some charters out of Skopje or Sarajevo... or heck even Zagreb or Ljubljana.
Now that they had to cut additional flights from Montenegro to Serbia they do not know what to do with the capacity. To make things even more tragic the government of Montenegro wants to add new Embraer aircraft to the fleet to replace the Fokkers. If they had an reason they would just retire the Fokkers and stay with the three E-jets they currently have.
Cheers
lolll i find it hilerious that people could compare wizz air and YM !!! Wizz has decided to create a hub at BG with already plans to base a second plane for scheduled flight, montenegro on the other hand who cannot afford to pay airport debts want to start chater flight from belgrade for a quick cash scheme since they are in the financial crap that they are in!!! Yet i do recall a article about Montenegro winging about other airlines wanting to run seasonal flights and taking business from them during the peak season and asking them to only allow it if they want to have flights all year round like them, and now they want to run charter flights from belgrade and everyone cries poor when denied!!!
ReplyDeleteYM is well known in the region about their poor financial record...they pul out of PRN and SKP, have problems with debt to FRA and few other airports. That is very bad reputation and if WIZZ shows anything similar, of course, directorate should consider their licence as well. YM played too long to risky, here are the results...cheers!
ReplyDeleteTalk nonsense.
ReplyDeleteThe best flag carrier in the region, Montenegro Airlines.
See machine fleet have, and always arrives a new plane, and that companies pay without a long day.
Aerports debts to several million, and that the company earns in the course of July!
LOOK AT DEBT Adria Airways, Croatria, BH Airlines ... owes hundreds of millions and nothing.
Compare the population of Montenegro with the number of lines (16 lines) and the number of aircraft and you'll see who's the best in the region.
The strongest lines in Europe Belgrade - Podgorica and Tivat and YM transports 75% of passengers from the line and without a competitive price tickets compared to the relationship from Belgrade to Zagreb, Ljubljana and Jat tickets to Montenegro.
Think about it!
Last anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry but I fear that you have confused this blog with RTCG as all the government propaganda should be done there.
Montenegro Airlines is where it is today just because it does not have to face compeition back at home. If you want to compare them with other airlines like Jat, Croatia or Adria then you have to wait for the Montenegran market to be as liberalized as the ones mentioned before.
If Montenegro Airlines was doing that well on the Montenegro-Belgrade market it would not be cutting frequencies.
I honnestly do not understand why is everyone complaining about Jat's Atr's, they are not that bad at all. I flew on the numerous times on the VIE-BEG-VIE (codeshare with OS) and once on the BEG-TIV-BEG route, they are not that bad at all.
This January I flew on EuroLot's Atr42 WAW-WRO-WAW and that was quite bad. So I think we need to cut Jat some slack here.
Yes,yes the Jat ATR 72 is the last word of technology and design.
ReplyDeleteAs for competition, fly from PodgoricaMalev, and Croatia, and Adria, and Air Berlin from Tivat .... jel lot ....
Embrarer 195 is the law
At Belgrade YM breaks the JAT at lines for TIV and TGD
ahahhahahha :D
ReplyDelete"...Embrarer 195 is the law..." - PRICELESS :)
I bet you wanted to say "Embraer 195 je zakon!" :)))) ahhahahaha, bukvalan prevod, vrh! :) (naravno, komentar nije negativan, nego me je samo slatko nasmejao :) ).
Elem, prirodno je sto svako misli da je nacionalna kompanija njegove zemlje najbolja, najjaca itd. To je relativno. Toliko.
Ali, jedno je sigurno - svaka aviokompanija ima svoje kvalitete, ali i svoje mane. YM ne bi dzabe smanjivao broj letova iz CG ka BEGu sa 50 od proslog leta na 36. Za to postoji razlog. Cista matematika :)
Па наравно да постоји логика али очигледно је нека занемарује овде!
ReplyDeleteАко сагледамо чињенице као што је ЈУ500 рекао можемо да схватимо каква је ситуација у ЈМу.
Што се тиче Е195, јесте он је закон али Монтенегро Ерлајнз није.
Za poslednjeg anonimusa: ja sam se cudio tvom engleskom koji je vrlo problematican, a sada vidim da ti ni maternji nije bas kako treba, tesko te je razumeti! Vise citanja momce. Pozdrav
ReplyDeleteNe razumem svrhu poslednjeg komentara :)
ReplyDelete