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| Etihad Airways and Montenegro Airlines start negotiations |
Etihad Airways and Montenegro Airlines have held their first joint meeting since the two signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Strategic Commercial Cooperation last month. Etihad's Vice President for HR Operations, Sinead Kilkelly, and the carrier's Manager for Projects - People and Performance, Bojana Galebov, met with Montenegro Airlines' CEO Daliborka Pejović, Executive Director Lidija Pantović, as well as the Vice President of the Board of Directors Predrag Marković and the country's Deputy Prime Minister Duško Marković in Podgorica. The group discussed Montenegro Airlines' organisation structure in detail, which the Abu Dhabi-based carrier is working on revamping in a bid to boost efficiency. Furthermore, the two companies reviewed the state of the Montenegrin airline, in order to seek out models for improving future development and organisation.
Etihad Airways stressed it was satisfied with the level of cooperation shown by its Montenegrin counterpart so far, as well as the quality of information the airline has passed on. In a statement, the Montenegrin government said, "Mr Marković [Deputy Prime Minister], briefed Etihad on the current political and economic trends in the country and expressed the government's full support for the implementation of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement between the two airlines, adding that the partnership will contribute to the competitiveness of Montenegro Airlines". Simmilar talks were held between the Emirati carrier and Jat Airways prior to its part-takeover by Etihad. Montenegro Airlines' CEO, Daliborka Pejović, said earlier the Agreement could eventually lead to an equity investment on behalf of Etihad. In 2011, the Montenegrin government offered a 30% stake in its national airline. At the time, Etihad purchased the tender documentation but never made a takeover bid and the privatisation process ultimately failed.
The MoU for Strategic Commercial Cooperation between the two carriers is expected to give Montenegro Airlines access to Etihad’s global network of destinations and will allow the airline to use the Emirati carrier’s resources in order to improve fleet utilisation during the slow winter months. Furthermore, Montenegro will forge closer ties with Etihad's partner airlines, while the Abu Dhabi-based carrier will also assist in overhauling Montenegro Airlines' organisational structure. The new partnership is also set to boost synergies between the two carriers, providing Montenegro Airlines access to benefits enjoyed by Etihad and its partners on the market. The Montenegrin carrier said the MoU marks the first step towards a full strategic partnership.
Etihad is going to buy MGX no doubt about it (or though Air Serbia). This is exactly the same way they started with Jat. First they signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and then they announced a strategic partnership 3 months later. Mark my words, somewhere in March they will do the same with MGX.
ReplyDeleteGood they need as much help as they can get!
ReplyDeleteI just don't see what Etihad can get from this? But good luck to Mont Air anyway
ReplyDeleteWho knows. Their strategy hasn't always been clear but to me it is obvious they want to cooperate with YM to support JU as well, and to a lesser extent AZ.
DeleteDas not matter what we can see or not. As long as Monte Negro Airlines and Etihad Airways, or maybe next airlines involve in dill in future know interest. For as on blog, this is way to have ''good fan''. Good luck to MGX of Monte negro. Include Etihad and all involve in strength of ETIHAD GROUP of Airlines.
DeleteBest wishes. Aviation for ever✈!. Rodney & Globetrotters. Kraljevo✈Sydney✈✈✈
Rodney why are you dumping on us, we are just speculating?
DeleteI can only see this deal going through if it is very closely tied with, or somehow a joint purchase with AS. But if this deal does materialize I see only big headaches for AS in the future. Mark my words.
Eliminating competition to Air Serbia on MGX's most popular routes, BEG to TIV/TGD?
DeleteI assume if they do buy them, (or they buy it from Air Serbia) most departments would be joined and based in Belgrade. They would coordinate their schedule with Air Serbia on flights between Montenegro and Belgrade, they would keep most of their destinations and be more competitive in the charter market during the summer where they can earn some money.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the OT...
ReplyDeleteIt was written in the VEČER daily that MBX airport is in talks with:
-MGX one weekly seasonal charter to TGD
-JP seasonal routes like MBX-SEN last year
- Express Airways to DUS (two weekly flights thursday and sunday) and BCN
-W6 for flights to various destinations
-JU for flights to BEG in order to fuel flights to JFK
Seems like another airport in the region is waking up...
You forgot the summer seasonal charters to Rodos, Corfu, Malta and Anyalya. Operated by Aegean, Air Malta and Freebird Airlines. There's also a winter seasonal charter wit Windrose to Kharkiv.
DeleteSorry, Antalya*
DeleteAnalya almost lol
Delete"-JU for flights to BEG in order to fuel flights to JFK"
DeleteBetter idea, to make BEG-MBX-JFK-MBX-BEG.
Yeah because BEG-JFK requires a refueling stop... and in Maribor of all place. What nonsense.
Delete^^^
DeleteYou do understand my sarcasm @12:56 comment. What a stupid reason for JU to fly to MBX.
Not more stupid than the reason they are flying to JFK.
DeleteFull strategic partnership should imply full integration into Air Serbia.
ReplyDeleteJU needs those Embraers and besides BEG, YM doesn't really have any other markets which can sustain daily flights. Moscow used to be one of those but with the whole NATO nonsense going on they will lose that as well.
If it were up to me I would just shut YM down but since Milo is good friends with the sheikh we can assume that EY has to go through with this.
I heard the Embraers are on very unfavorable terms.
DeleteThey only own one actually.
DeleteAnd that one will probably go to Alitalia. But I see no aircraft Montenegro could take on and they can't be left with 25 year old Fokkers. They will need to renew their fleet.
DeleteI am sure their leases can be re-negotiated especially if that means more aircraft for either AZ or JU.
DeleteHow many planes do they actually have in service and how old are the F100s?
DeleteBEG Novembar 2015.
ReplyDeleteAvio operacije 4.325 - 3.907 -10%
Putnici. 314.696 - 299.113 -5%
Roba 1.018.429 -1.363.441 +34%
Pošta. 141.870 - 164.221 +16%
expected...
DeleteOcigledno je porastao LF, mnogi su ovde prognozirali -10%
DeleteTo je prosek za sve prevozioce. Nekima se mozda i smanjio LF ;-)
DeleteWhat is causing increase in cargo?
DeleteWhen are JU's results (loadfactor and no. of passengers) coming out?
DeleteAt the end of the year as it fourth quarter results are published then - just like Croatia Airlines. Adria on the other hand doesn't bother and keeps everything a secret on par with Montenegro Airlines. If you are interested to know for the first three quarters JU had +15% passengers and had already handled more passengers by the end of October than for the whole of last year so it's not going to be pleasant for haters.
DeleteToday JU553 circa 50 pax, ~90 on the way there.
DeleteNema trika da Milo preuzme placanje duga MGX.
ReplyDeleteNema trika da neko to drugi plati.
DeleteGreat news :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if JU/YM will coordinate their flight times better now between Belgrade and Montenegro. Most of their flights depart within 5 minutes of each other.
ReplyDeleteIt would make sense considering they will help them with their network. The only problem is that this will lead to a complete duopoly. MGX has lowered its prices significantly since Air Serbia was launched so they don't loose passengers.
DeleteHave Montenegro and Jat ever codeshared?
DeleteInteresting. There is probably something bigger behind this. We will find out with time.
ReplyDeleteNo one in their right mind would want to buy an airline with 71 million euros of debt and covered up losses.. Except for Etihad...
ReplyDeleteLufthansa bought Austrian a year after Austrian recorded a net loss of 475 million EUR
DeleteAre you seriously comparing Austrian and Montenegro Airlines?
DeleteAll the debt MGX owes is to state run companies (they paid off Pristina and Skopje airports). So the state can take over all of their debts (like Serbia did with Jat)
DeleteJedina dobra stvar je to sto su YM piloti obuceni za E-Jetove i sto ASL moze onda da nabavi E95 i postane jos konkurentnija .
ReplyDeleteINN-NS
..naravno, odlican rezon.. zbog desetak pilota, ASL ce kupiti E95.. fenomenalno...
DeleteKo kaze desetak ima vise.
DeleteI ko kaze kupiti.
INN-MS
Pih, da su to znali oni is Etihada kad su preuzimali ASL uzeli bi B737 zbog pilota..
DeleteBezakonje, korupcija i negativna selekcija su doveli do kolapsa. Nesposobni i neodgovorni rasprodaju sve. I u Srbiji, i u Republici Srpskoj, i u Crnoj Gori.
ReplyDelete.. verovatno treba da gledamo i dalje, kao i decenijama do sada, kako nam partijski strucnjaci vode javna preduzeca o nasem trosku?
Delete