Ryanair eyes Montenegro expansion


Low cost carrier Ryanair is looking into further expanding its operations in Montenegro. The airline's Route Development Manager, Gary Butler, met with the General Manager of Airports of Montenegro, Danilo Orlandić, to discuss growth potential. The budget airline will introduce its sixth destination to Podgorica this summer season, with flights from Bologna to launch on April 1. Services will run twice per week, each Monday and Friday, throughout the year. Ryanair faces no direct competition on the route, with Alitalia and Montenegro Airlines maintaining services between Rome and Podgorica, while Wizz Air operates flights from Milan Malpensa to the Montenegrin capital. Furthermore, Ryanair's subsidiary, Laudamotion, will be adding services between Stuttgart and Podgorica from April 2.

Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said it expects to handle 175.000 passengers on its operations to and from the Montenegrin capital. "We look forward to carrying more than 175.000 annual customers through Podgorica airport this year. Ryanair offers six routes in total operating from Podgorica Airport. Customers can fly twice weekly from Podgorica to Stockholm Skavsta, Brussels Charleroi, London Stansted, Berlin Schonefeld, Bologna and Wroclaw". The carrier launched services to the Montenegrin capital in the summer of 2013 following two years of negotiations with the government. On Thursday it handled its 500.000th passenger in Montenegro since it commenced operations to Podgorica. It has expanded its network from the city each year ever since. The company previously noted its Podgorica flights "continue to perform strongly".


Ryanair offers the most capacity out of Montenegro among low cost carriers. Overall, it is third in terms of the number of seats it puts on sale from the country, behind only Montenegro Airlines and Air Serbia. Previously, the budget airline said, "We are extremely interested in including Tivat to our network as well. It is one of the airports that is very appealing to us. During the summer, flights heading to Montenegro are in demand, while during the winter, services from Montenegro are more popular, which is a good combination. Those travelling to Montenegro for a holiday on our flights usually stay for six days". According to the Montenegrin government, Ryanair has not received any subsidies or incentives and is paying full landing and handling fees in Podgorica.



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:04

    This is great news. They are on a roll.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:31

      Who? TGD or FR? :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:52

      Both!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:09

      All of them! TIV as well!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    Bravo Crna Gora!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    "According to the Montenegrin government, Ryanair has not received any subsidies or incentives and is paying full landing and handling fees in Podgorica."

    Hahahahaha, I'm pretty sure Ryanair is in love with Podgorica, that must be the reason!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      The Montenegrin government is known for its honesty :D

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:31

      Ryanair is not known to come and operate at your airport for free so I don't trust the government.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:08

    Bad news for YM!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:33

      Indeed. But they had years without serious competition and should have adapted on time.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:10

    In the first three year agreement between the government and FR, FR was supposed to launch flights from 4 cities to Tivat in their second year. That never happened.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:12


    A lot of Montenegro traffic is using BEG to travel to the rest of Europe.
    With more direct options JU will lose a lot of that.
    That is also bad news for JU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      Aww we missed you.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      Is JU the only foreign carrier in Montenegro? JP, OS and A3 are far more affected here as they have barely any p2p so they rely on transfer passengers much more than JU.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:18

      Anonymous at 09:14
      JU is by far the busiest foreign carrier in TGD.
      So it will be affected a whole lot more than JP or A3.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:19

      It's also the most convenient because it offers the most flexibility. No other carriers has so much O&D demand. So JU is safe. YM codeshare to BEG will be more affected if anything.

      So JP and A3 will be more affected since their starting position is much, MUCH, weaker.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:25

      @Anonymous at 09:19

      LOL, JP and A3 have a minuscule part of their operations in TGD. JU is carrying loads of transfer passengers. With more direct flights JU will lose a lot of that and will become mainly an O&D carrier in Montenegro.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:26

      Ok we get it. You dislike JU. Move on now.

      Delete
    7. Dejan09:28

      Anonymous 9 February 2019 at 09:19
      Boy do you seriously believe that Aegean is depending on passengers flying TGD-ATH-BLQ or TGD-ATH-STR to keep that route?
      Seriously now?

      Delete
    8. Nemjee09:33

      It seems like you have an issue with JU (or is it Serbia?) but let's put things into perspective here.

      Passenger numbers from Podgorica in 2017:

      1. Belgrade - 293.913
      2. Istanbul - 106.071
      3. Vienna - 80.475
      4. Ljubljana - 49.824
      5. Charleroi - 36.819
      6. Berlin - 35.598
      7. Memmingen - 31.094
      8. Milan - 30.739
      9. Budapest - 25.240
      10. Skavsta - 24.720

      As you can see, routes operated by FR and W6 are even behind LJU. Maybe they have enough passengers to make these operations profitable but I doubt we'll see a major expansion by either FR or W6 in the future. Maybe a few routes added here and there but nothing groundbreaking.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:35

      Dejan, they sell TGD-ATH-FCO so why not BLQ?

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:38

      Such a silly thread . JU flies to Podgorica 3 times per day. Ryanair on all its routes to TGD twice per week. So JU offers much more options unless the day works for you both inbound and outbound on FR. And if it's going to affect anyone its going to be YM. And the majority using FR are mostly completely new passengers.

      Delete
    11. Dejan09:41

      Anonymous 9 February 2019 at 09:35

      I am sure they will aslo sell you TGD-ATH-BEG if you are willing to buy it.
      The issue is though that A3 on this route transfers O&D and secondly TGD-ATH-rest of Greece and Middle East traffic.
      Not passengers who want to go from MN to the rest of Europe after they fly first two hours to the wrong direction (south) to catch a flight from ATH.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous09:44

      Dejan, nonsense. People from BEG, OTP and SOF fly on TK to North America. Many European airlines send people to Utah, Nevada, Oregon... via LAX or SFO. Backtracking is not uncommon.

      Delete
    13. Dejan09:48

      Anonymous 9 February 2019 at 09:44

      A BEG-IST-LAX flight adds little to your total journey time compared to a BEG-FRA-LAX.
      The backtracking eastwards is a very small part of such a long journey.
      But going to Italy from BEG or TGD through ATH it actually doubles or triples your journey time.
      So please, lets keep this discussion factual and reasonable.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous09:50

      You are forgetting facts because you are trying to make a stupid point. People will fly from TGD to CDG via DEL if the price is right.

      Also connections at US airports are rarely under three hours so they add a lot of extra travelling time.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous09:51

      BEG-IST-LAX adds quite a lot of time, as you add over 3 hours of extra flying time.

      Delete
    16. Dejan09:56

      BEG-IST-LAX might add three hours to a 15 hour journey.
      A BEG-ATH-FCO route adds 5 hours to a journey that if flown directly (BEG-FCO) lasts about an hour.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous09:57

      The entire discussion is pointless as Dejan says because it not based on actual facts but mostly on resentment and bitterness towards one airline and country.

      Delete
    18. Anonymous10:17

      Dejan +1
      A3 network is not a threat to neither JU or YM.
      YM because they don't fly anywhere near ATH or in Eastern Mediterranean region and JU because they overlap only in LCA, BEY, TLV but because they have a good relationship and codeshares they actually both benefit from each other's networks.

      Delete
    19. Anonymous12:05

      It's pathetic how almost every post is turned against either JU or Serbia.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:26

    Great to see another new route to Podgorica after they added Stockholm last year. Bologna is an interesting choice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:58

      And it's year-round which is also important :)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:11

      The schedule is excellent for city break. Evening departure on a Friday and early return on Monday so you can make it to work.

      Delete
    3. Please stop guys.
      It's not bad news for JU as their potential passenger reduction on route losses will be covered by GoS. The same goes for YM and GoMn. JP has that many bad news that this one, if potential passenger reduction on route losses happen, is nothing comparing to else, and JP will be gone soon with or without more FR in TGD. And I will refrain to comment OU as they don't even fly to Mn and are so sad story of something tiny and bad which had potential to be shiny and big.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:53

      pozdrav iz Rijeke
      +1000

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:59

    The good thing about LCCs flying to Podgorica is that they operate year-round and not just seasonal which is a win for customers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:09

      It is also bad news for OS, JU and JP who were carrying most Montenegro traffic through their hubs before the expansion of LCCs.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:11

    I hope FR finally break the JU-YM duopoly and launch TGD-BEG. This is one of the busiest routes in the Balkans. Never in the region are there so many frequencies between 2 capital cities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:18

      Neither government wants to brake that monopoly. They both want to protect their state owned carriers at the expense of passengers.

      Delete
    2. It can't happen as FR can fly only between EU contries or non EU to EU country.
      Without special agrrement (which they would never get approved) they are not allowed to fly routes between Serbia and Montenegro as both countries are out of EU

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10:41

    Podgorica is really doing great. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous10:42

    They should start GOT-TGD. They will have lots of passengers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:00

      True, considering the large number of people from that country residing in western Sweden.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:19

      bit disappointing they didn't consider FRA-TGD.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:25

      If not Ryan then Wizz would be a good alternative.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:09

    Ryanair is building a nice little network in Podgorica. So refreshing to see Podgorica growing so quickly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:32

      Excellent news for Montenegro. Does Norwegian Air Shuttle fly to Podgorica or Tivat?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:56

      To Tivat, seasonally.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:32

    Montenegro is booming and developing as a nation together with its aviation.
    Slavko Kalezić likes this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous12:48

    Montenegro keeps winning!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous12:53

    Any new addition to TGD or TIV is very welcome. Others comment that it would hurt the other major airlines, but honestly as local customer i don't care. The major players have been sleeping its good that some new guys are shaking things up. Good news for the locals and the local economy.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous13:41

    How many passengers could we expect at TGD this year?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous14:06

    I guess Ryanair by this way is going to
    make more pressure on Dubrovnik airport in order to get more reasonable fees.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:06

      How do they put pressure on DBV through Podgorica???

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:02

      Dubrovnik airport is absolutely packed during the Summer.
      So it doesn't need to offer incentives to FR or any other airline.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous16:05

    Bologna-Podgorica is a great addition. Not your usual gasto route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:54

      Its for Albanian gastos

      Delete
  19. Anonymous16:24

    Bravo CG

    ReplyDelete
  20. I honestly don't understand why they focus on these weird destinations from Podgorica.
    Who will fly from Podgorica to Wroclaw and Berlin and from Wroclaw to Berlin to Podgorica.
    It would be much wiser to focus a) on destinations with large Balkan emigration, for example Gothenburg and Luxembourg and b) countries with large tourism culture, e.g. Sweden (through Gothenburg). Germans will anyhow only fly to Mallorca so there can't be any reasonable decision behind it. And Bologna?! Seriously? How many Italians from Bologna will fly to Montenegro?
    And still no flights to Tivat.. disturbing.

    ReplyDelete

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