Montenegro Airlines has registered record passenger growth in May with the national carrier handling 52.757 travellers, representing an increase of 27% on 2017. The airline welcomed an additional 11.105 passengers on board its aircraft compared to last year. Growth was achieved both on scheduled and charter flights. It carried 47.418 travellers on the fifteen destinations within its network, up 22.1%, while figures on its charter flights rose over 100% to 3.633. Montenegro Airlines, which introduced a Boeing 737-500 aircraft to its fleet in late April, registered its best average cabin load factor on flights to Copenhagen at 79%, followed by London at 76%, Lyon and Belgrade at 75%, as well as Frankfurt and Paris with a 73% average cabin occupancy rate.
In a statement, Montenegro Airlines said, "These results clearly indicate the continued positive commercial trends and overall business at the airline, which is achieving record financial and commercial results this year". During the January - May period, the carrier handled 169.537 passengers, representing an improvement of 8.8% on last year. "These results show the competent and dedicated work in implementing our development strategy and achieving the set goals, which are in line with the business plan for 2018", Montenegro Airlines' CEO, Živko Banjević, said. During the height of the summer season, the company will serve thirty destinations in fifteen countries and will carry some 370.000 travellers between June 1 and October 1.
This summer the carrier introduced new destinations within its network, including Leipzig and Munich, and will run a series of charter flights to the Iranian and Jordanian capitals of Tehran and Amman, as well as Tel Aviv, Helsinki, Oslo, Bari, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Napoli, Bratislava, Linz, Salzburg, Kosice and Ostrava. "During the first quarter, Montenegro Airlines saw an improvement of 1.25 million euros in its financial results compared to last year. Despite a number of difficulties and growing competition, we continue to be the first choice for travel among Montenegrin consumers and tourists", Mr Banjević noted. Almost a third of all passengers flying to Montenegro's two international airports do so with Montenegro Airlines.
Great to see improved results from YM.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the competition they have now from Wizz and Ryan at Podgorica, they seem to be doing well.
ReplyDelete+1
Deletenot just those two but also LOT, Austrian, Alitalia, Aegean, Turkish... For a small airport Podgorica has a lot of airlines and a good mix of legacy and low cost.
DeleteIndeed very good. Bravo Podgorica!
DeleteInteresting that Copenhagen of all routes had the highest load factor in May.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised by Lyon too. These are all tourists from France I assume.
DeleteParis and Lyon perform extremely well especially after MGX signed contracts with French tour operators who fill the planes.
DeleteIt would be great if that extends into winter.
DeleteI love that they say finances improved by 1.5 million but they don't say what the actual result is.
ReplyDeleteI think overall they did see an improvement as I believe their costs did not grow that much. Biggest additional expense was probably the lease on the B735 which might be paying itself off.
DeleteAlso, LF of 75% to BEG goes to show that during the slower periods of the year, the Atr is the way to go on routes between BEG and MNE.
They did send the B737 a lot to Belgrade which could impact LF.
DeleteNot so much, the B735 has only 4 more seats compared to E95.
DeleteThat said, it's heavier and burns more fuel but I think they couldn't afford an E-jet.
Interesting. Wow I thought the B737 offered much more capacity
DeleteIt could as the maximum seating configuration is 149. :)
DeleteThat said, B735 is roomier inside due to a wider cabin, which makes sense as it's a 3-3 seating configuration. I guess that's why they wanted to send it to Russia. Oh well...
True. But interestingly Moscow isn't on the list of top LF destinations.
DeleteI think those numbers are for April, Moscow would have most likely appeared in May or June when their tourists start to arrive.
DeleteWhy did the Russians block Montenegro Airlines from flying with the B737 to Moscow?
DeletePlane rogestration, it's from Malta.
DeleteWhy is that an issue?
DeleteAir agreement between Russia and Montenegro. Only carriers based in MNE/RUS and planes who has registration 4O/VP can operate flights between two countries. 737-500 is registered in Malta
DeleteSome time ago JU was not allowed to fly to Germany with UAE registration. Later on these planes became YU-APA and YU-APB
DeleteIs the crew Maltese on the flights operated by the B737?
DeleteSmall correction, SAA & SAB became API and APJ.
DeleteThanks for correction.
DeleteI was sure that SAA & SAB were APA and APB, but obviously wrong.
@ Nemjee those load factors are for May.
DeleteOh ok, my bad.
DeleteIt’s really funny. Russian carriers can use foreign registered aircraft (VP) while YM can’t.
DeleteBecause Russia is a massive country and one of the strongest economies in the world. Montenegro on the other hand is nothing, a tiny dot on the world map who population is smaller than the number of daily tourist visits to the Red Square.
DeleteCompared to population Russia is relatively small economy. So much room to grow and no need for such a language regarding Montenegro
DeleteIt is a small country but still doing best on most fronts in the region (and I am from Serbia).
Have they decided which planes they are going to take next year? They said it is between more Embraers or next gen B737s
ReplyDeleteNot yet
DeleteCongratulations Montenegro Airlines.
ReplyDeleteNice numbers in May
ReplyDeleteThe extensive codeshare they have with JU has certainly helped.
DeleteAre there any plans to pruvatize YM?
ReplyDelete*privatize
DeleteNot really
DeleteThere are! Yesterday I had meeting about that with relevant people in Podgorica.
DeleteThere is no benefit in anyone buying YM.
DeleteUnless it's someone like 4K I don't see much benifit to anyone either.
DeleteCare to share Purger?
DeleteIf you ask Purger, he will say anyone but Air Serbia. If you leave politics aside and think long term, Air Serbia is the best choice for Montenegro needs. Allow them to have AOC, base planes in Montenegro with local crew and use BEG as a transfer point during winter and for long haul. Superior to anything JP, OU or anyone else could offer.
DeleteTrue dat.
DeleteWhy on earth would I said that Air Serbia will not be good option? What more I wrote analysis about perspective on Air Serbia-Montenegro joint venture or that Air Serbia buy Montenegro. Win-win for both sides.
DeleteThat was one year ago. I am just not sure that in this moment Air Serbia has money and power for that.
Anonymous 1:25 PM
Sorry, can not. I would be very unprofessional.
Many Montenegrians and tourists from USA use the JFK-BEG flights. This morning, group of 26 tourists from USA arrived in Belgrade, and they continue to Podgorica with YM.
ReplyDeleteTrue, when I flew from JFK to Belgrade 2 months ago the plane seemed to be filled with Montenergins and everyone seemed to know each other because they were like all happy to see each other on the plane and chatting. When we landed in BEG, the gate for the Podgorica flight was just two below ours and I literally think half of the plane queued there for their flight.
DeleteAnd today BEG-JFK 17/18 business
DeleteGreat loads this year in business class.
It can't be 17/18. Maximum is 16/18 because two seats are used as resting area for pilots.
DeleteThat's not true at all. I have flown BEG-JFK in business. Cabin was full to the last seat and there were no pilots whatsoever in the cabin.
DeleteAnonymousJune 9, 2018 at 3:44 PM
DeleteWTF? Are you kidding? Everybody writes here.
Sure, and 10 seats in economy for cabin crew.
Well they do block seats for crew rest.
DeleteStop making things up please. Completely false.
DeleteThey don't block seats. I flew with +50 airlines and no one of them doing what smeone said here. It's false.
DeleteI know OS has a small curtain blocking four seats in the back of the B767.
DeleteTAP Airbus 321 Lisbon-Dakar, first economy row DEF officially blocked for working crew rest, LF 100%, personal experience
DeleteGood to see them recovering.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy too, I just hope all these numbers are factual. Remember how they used to post fantastic results in 2010, 11, 12 and it turned out to all be falsified?
DeleteBravo Crna Goro
ReplyDeleteTrebalo bi vise letova uvesti prema Skandinaviji posto se vidi iz prilozenog da su odlicni rezultati prema CPH sto je svakako odlicno.
ReplyDeleteBice zanimljivo videti kako ce se snaci u letnoj sezoni.
INN-NS
+1
DeleteDoes anyone know what happened to today´s flight from DXB-SKP and why it was diverted to SOF? Emergency?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/fz791#11a9c869
Tech issue with the plane. There are no maintenance facilities in SKP.
DeleteThank you, mate.
DeleteNot true! Heavy thunderstorm in SKP this afternoon was the reason.
Deleteit landed in SKP: LANDED 15:26
DeleteNope, diverted. Check carefully.
Deleteyou check. diverted to sof but continued to skp
DeleteI would love if they resumed flights to PRN, INI and SKP.
ReplyDeleteGood to see some new energy back at YM.
ReplyDeleteGood news for Montenegro airlines and the state of Montenegro. Air transport is significant for entire tourist industry and state economy
ReplyDelete