Wizz Air enters Montenegrin market


Wizz Air has entered its sixth market in the former Yugoslavia this morning with the launch of its Bergamo - Podgorica service. It becomes the second major low cost airline to maintain operations to the Montenegrin capital after Ryanair. Wizz will follow-up on today's launch with the addition of flights between Memmingen and Podgorica tomorrow. Both will be maintained twice per week. There were 152 passengers on board this morning's inaugural service. "We are very excited to bring Wizz low fares to Podgorica, connecting with popular Italian and German regions. This not only provides low fare services for leisure and business travellers from Montenegro going west, it provides great fares for travellers coming east to discover the food, culture, biodiversity and stunning vistas in Montenegro. We are very excited to be adding Podgorica to the Wizz Air community", John Stephenson, Wizz Air's Executive Vice President, said.

Wizz faces no direct competition on its two new routes. The carrier has been in talks with the operator of Montenegro's two international airports, Airports of Montenegro, for several years now but has often complained of drawn out negotiation due to high fees. The head of Airports of Montenegro, Milovan Djuričković, said, "Airports of Montenegro are pleased that this summer we welcome Wizz Air among our partners. We hope for a successful cooperation which will contribute to improving air availability and increasing the number of tourists who will use Wizz Air to come to our country”. One of Wizz AIr's main rivals, Ryanair, plans to further expand its operation in Montenegro after announcing the launch of its third route to the country, from Berlin to Podgorica, scheduled to begin next month.

Wizz Air has expanded its operation across the former Yugoslavia this year. On top of its new Podgorica flights, it has introduced three new routes from Skopje, one from Belgrade and has today also launched a new service to Niš. The airline recently said it plans to commence flights to Sarajevo in the near future while continuing to maintain its base in Tuzla. Furthermore, the no frills carrier is talks with Pristina Airport. In addition, Wizz will launch a new route each from Skopje and Tuzla later this year. The General Director for Tourism Development and Standards in the Montenegrin government, Olivera Brajović, said Wizz Air's arrival will have a positive impact on the country's tourism industry. "We are very satisfied that Wizz Air will start flights to and from Montenegro and connect our country with markets that generate significant numbers of tourists - Germany and Italy for starters. This is a great opportunity for tourists from these countries to visit Montenegro with a direct flight at favourable prices. This is also an opportunity for locals to travel at reasonable fares. We are sure that this is just the beginning of our cooperation and that in the coming period we will jointly work on further expanding operations".

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    Good loads for the first flight. Good luck Wizz.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      The TGD-BGY flight today is sold out.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:08

    Wizz please come to MBX!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:45

      LCC will come to MBX exactly when the airport/city/region will cough up the cash to support them. They don't really care about the ability of locals to fly to STN/BVA/GRO for peanuts.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:09

    They are also launching some INI flights today!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:43

    We will see how italy works out for them. Germany will do great.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:12

    OT...what caused the massive delays yesterday evening at BEG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:53

      Massive storm.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous11:04

    Nail in the coffin for Montenegro Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:05

    I find it interesting that both Wizz and Ryanair started flying to Podgorica and not Tivat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:21

      They probably offer better terms and conditions. Plus it's a year-round route and more people live in the vicinity unlike Tivat. Also you can use Tivat only during the day.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:37

      I'm pretty sure some people from Albania will also use these flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:01

      I doubt it... Tirana has a lot of flights to Italy and I think Adria or Lufthansa already fly to Munich.

      Delete
    4. Milivoje Rodic12:10

      Not completely sure but i think fees at TGD are 2 euros cheaper than the on at TIV?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:52

      Podgorica or Tivat could not support year-round service to London relying solely on MNE market. Podgorica is 15km from Albania, huge diaspora there...Begramo will thrive on that, it's a stone's throw from Switzerland...

      Delete
  8. Anonymous11:06

    TGD is on the way to overtake SJJ by passenger numbers like it used to be a few years ago. Great to see Wizz start flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:06

      With two new Wizz(Bergamo, Memmingem) routes and one Ryanair(Berlin) route, Podgorica could overtake Sarajevo this year. Plus Swiss is suspending SJJ and Qatar will not start flights for now.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous11:16

    Well done Montenegro. Wizz Air is now pretty much in every ex-Yu country but their presence in Croatia is almost non-existent.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous11:34

    Very happy for Montenegro. Great news :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous11:49

    OT: BEG-JFK today is overbooked, even business is full! Sad passengers are routed via London with 4 hours waiting there...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:48

      True, JU500 was overbooked, while JU501 landed with more than a half void seats, weird ?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13:50

      Not weird at all. The route is highly seasonal. A month ago it was the other way around.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:50

      But to add that is something that they will have to work on.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:39

      So what can we expect during winter season?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:58

      December/January will be full but as you have seen they are trying to fill November with error fares.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous17:12

      Vacations are starting to end. People from Europe returning. The real test will be Oct and Nov, in my opinion.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous20:15

      No biggie, they will just cancel some of the flights like they always do.

      Delete
  12. And this is how short final looked like this morning in TGD :) https://youtu.be/k3JvW5l19p8

    ReplyDelete
  13. OT:
    KLM danas iz Amsterdama u Zagreb dolazi s Boeing 737-900. Čini se kako ta njihova linija ide sve bolje i bolje.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:27

      I ja sam čuo da se linija Zagreb-Amsterdam-Zagreb izvrsno prodaje!

      Delete
    2. Svaki tjedan, barem 3 do 4 puta KLM dolazi sa 738 ili 739, kapaciteti su im slicni: 170 i 178 pax...tako cijeli period od petog mjeseca do sada...

      Delete
  14. Anonymous13:52

    Nice done Podgorica. BTW, Administrator, why don't you write about Ryanair's coming and Wizz Air's expanding in Belgrade ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryanair's arrival in Serbia and expansion in Montenegro have been reported, as well as Wizz Air's new service to Belgrade. To find this news use the tags on the left or the search box on the right.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:17

      Sorry, what Wizz Air's new service to Belgrade ?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:28

      They started Baden baden.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:09

      &EX-YU AviationAugust 20, 2016 at 1:55 PM

      The route to Baden-Baden is not the new one. Could you provide us with rising information that Ryanair will soon start flying from Belgrade and that Wizz will open couple of new routes from Belgrade as well.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous19:14

      That's bad bad ;-)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous19:16

      @ AnonymousAugust 20, 2016 at 7:09 PM there are obviously no such plans.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous21:49

      @7:09 hahahhahaha fanny

      Delete
  15. Anonymous16:37

    Airlines from the region have been refusing to compete with expanding LCCs.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous19:16

    It's a different game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:34

      Adapt to it. Predict where the game will be in 5 years when Montenegro is in the EU and prepare for it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:48

      That's the best one i've heard in the longest time - Montenegro in the EU !!! How on God's earth are they ever going to close out the legal chapters on law, order, crime, courts - while ever such a kleptocracy exists ?

      What planet are you from ?

      Delete
    3. A sa koje se ti planete decko?zavuci se u misju rupu idiote...

      Delete
  17. Anonymous00:53

    Congrats to Serbia, great game!

    Regards from HR.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.