Montenegro Airlines handles half a million passengers

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

Qatar Airways posts $4.1 billion loss

Qatar Airways has announced that it suffered a more than $4 billion loss in revenues over the last fiscal year, as lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand for long haul travel. The major loss, which the state-owned airline largely attributed to the grounding of its Airbus A380 and A330 wide-body jets, highlights the dramatic toll of the pandemic on the industry. Even so, the Doha-based airline reported an increase in earnings to $1.6 billion before taxes and other costs compared to the previous year - costs that dropped significantly as the airline saved on jet fuel, reduced salaries by 15% and cut some 13.400 employees from its workforce. The pandemic has hit international routes the hardest, dealing a heavy blow to super-connectors in the Persian Gulf that essentially lack domestic markets. In the last several months, the flagship carrier has received a boost from an end to a yearslong boycott that locked Qatar Airways out of the airspace of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The embargo had forced the airline to take longer routes and consume more jet fuel, raising expenses. For the first time since 2017, the energy-rich state's airline reopened key routes to hubs like Dubai, Cairo and Riyadh as the political dispute eased in January. The long-haul carrier praised its resilience in the face of the fast-spreading virus variants still racing around the globe, noting that its operational loss of $288 million stood at 7% less than the year before. “Whilst our competitors grounded their aircraft and closed their routes, we adapted our entire commercial operation to respond to ever-evolving travel restrictions and never stopped flying”, Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar al-Baker, said in a statement. The airline acknowledged receiving a $3 billion lifeline from the Qatari government to keep operating as it struggled with virus restrictions. The carrier took just 5.8 million passengers to the skies in the last fiscal year, compared to 32.3 million the year before - a staggering 82% drop.
Reuters

Montenegro Airlines handles half a million passengers

NEWS FLASH

Montenegro Airlines handled its 500.000th passenger of the year last Friday as the airline continues to boast strong growth. The traveller arrived in Podgorica on a flight from Zurich. The company's CEO, Živko Banjević, said, "Half a million passengers in less than nine months, within a very competitive environment, is a major success for Montenegro Airlines and the Montenegrin tourism industry. This milestone represents a suitable start to marking a quarter of a century of the airline's existence". Montenegro Airlines anticipates welcoming 620.000 passengers by year's end. The lucky 500.000th traveller, who was upgraded to business class on his flight, also received a holiday package for two.