Podgorica suspends Milan, Bologna flights


The Montenegrin Ministry for Health has ordered the suspension of flights between Podgorica and Northern Italy over fears of the spread of the Coronavirus, affecting Wizz Air’s service to Milan and Ryanair’s operations to Bologna. Both routes, which run twice per week, have been temporarily suspended as of this morning until early April. Flights to Rome, operated by both Alitalia and Montenegro Airlines continue to be maintained as per normal. Montenegro is the first country in the former Yugoslavia to implement travel restrictions over the virus. Wizz Air’s service from both Skopje and Ohrid to Milan continue to run normally, as do Air Serbia’s flights from Belgrade to Italy’s second largest city and from Niš to Bologna. Ryanair’s service from Niš to Bergamo also remains unaffected.

Elsewhere, Air Serbia has said it has not registered an increase in booking cancellations to and from affected areas. However, the airline yesterday introduced a waiver for rebooking fees across its network for anyone wishing to modify their travel plans. “There has been no notable rise in booking cancellations from passengers traveling to areas affected by the coronavirus. Air Serbia will make every effort to assist those passengers traveling to affected areas who wish to change their travel dates”, the company said. It added, “Serbia’s flag carrier is taking every precaution in full compliance with all procedures provided for these circumstances, to ensure its passengers will have no reason for concern. As always, the safety of our passengers and our crew is our utmost priority”.

Croatia Airlines continues to maintain services from Zagreb to Rome via Split. “Croatia Airlines' Emergency Response and Crisis Management Office is actively monitoring the situation and continues to plan and take all necessary steps in order to ensure that the protection of the wellbeing of passengers, crew and all other employees of the company is maintained at the highest possible level”. The airline added, “Six internal memorandums and instructions have been issued to employees and, in early February, additional protective equipment was distributed to all staff who come into direct contact with passengers in their everyday work: surgical masks, disposable rubber gloves, Pliva Sept Blue disinfecting solution and hygienic wipes, together with an additional amount of disinfectants (Body Fluid Spill Kit) that are part of standard aircraft equipment”. Croatia Airlines’ CEO, Jasmin Bajić, said on Monday that the airline has seen softer booking numbers for March as a result of coronavirus fears.




Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    What is interesting is that Wizz Air has suspended ticket sales for Podgorica-Milan while dodgy Ryanair continues to sell tickets to Bologna haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:03

      Haha Ryanair is really dodgy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:04

      Why am I not surprised? It is Ryanair after all

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:06

      Ryanair doesn’t even have an alert on their website about the overall situation.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:10

      Wizz Air drastically reduced their services from Romania to Italy.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:10

      Also from Budapest.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:25

      @9.06 they must have read your comment :D they published an update at 9.23. They say:

      There is currently no change to advice for airlines. Our flights are operating as normal and all our terms and conditions apply.

      We will continue to monitor the situation and follow all public health instructions that are issued.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:06

      But they have to suspend Podgorica because the ministry ordered it.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:28

      Ryanair is still selling Podgorica-Bologna!?! Isn't there some rule about this? How can they sell tickets for flights that won't happen.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:36

      They didn't get the memo :D

      Delete
    10. Anonymous11:37

      lmao. so Ryanair is more dodgy then all the big flag carriers (Lufthansa, British ...) that keep flying to Milan. svasta procitas tu

      Delete
    11. Anonymous11:40

      Them flying to Milan or northern Italy isn't the issue. The issue is that they are still selling flights Bologna-Podgorica for next week when Montenegro ordered them to cancel the flights. That's the issue.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Hilarious that the ministry cancelled these flights when the tent they set up in front of the hospital in Podgorica was used for a party a few days ago. Lol

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:49

      Again spreading lies on this blog. They clearly stated it is for practice of safe disposal of contaminated medical equipment.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:01

      Erm there was literally a party with live music there last week, so much for their expertise when it comes to public health.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:03

    This could have an impact on their passenger numbers in March.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      I think most airports will be affected by the overall situation, not just Podgorica.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:07

      Wizz has decimated their Italian network in March. From 280 weekly flights they are going down to 112. Though I think they are using it as an excuse since we are still in the slow period of the year. Some like OTP FCO are going down from 9 to 3 weekly.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      BUD is down to two weekly.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:03

    I guess they will fly via BEG now so good news for JU I guess.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous18:18

      Serbia should cancel flight to Milamo, Venice and BGY - ASAP

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:05

    Overaction.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:08

    What about FCO? Or are they protecting YM?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      It says: " Flights to Rome, operated by both Alitalia and Montenegro Airlines continue to be maintained as per normal."

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:14

      And why exactly should be FCO affected?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13:46

      YM needs a miracle to survive, I don't know how their FCO loads are but I hope they are better than today's flight to VIE, plane left with 16 passengers and came back with 31. I guess that's why they sent the F100, it's cheaper.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:30

    A lot of overreaction. People talk about corona like they know everything, especially what's going on in Italy. Rome is perfectly safe, but since people panic for nothing, airlines keeps suspending flights. Alitalia cancelled one out of four daily Ts Rome connections, I suppose this will come handy for them since they are constantly on the verge of bankruptcy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:22

    Over the top.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:23

      Really ? Think twice...

      Delete
  9. Anonymous11:07

    These routes to Milan and Bologna are mostly for gastos or tourists?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11

      Gastos and tourists from Montenegro going on weekend city breaks.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous11:14

    Wow has any other European country actually banned flights from northern Italy??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:20

      Well only China for more than obvious reasons but this is an exaggeration by the corrupt government to force people to fly on YM to Rome and then by rail to their final destination.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      I would say "veci katolici od pape". There was really no need for this except for increasing hysteria and panic among the population.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:43

      I agree. People should read the interview with the first person cured from this virus in Italy. To see that if you are middle aged and healthy the symptoms are extremely mild (the EU commission even corroborates this because in an internal message to staff they wrote the symptoms are milder than the seasonal flu) and that you are fine within days.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:45

      Someone needs a bit of panic and disaster. Global markets only started reacting this week. They were doing well while it was just in China. As soon as things started improving there it suddenly spread everywhere. Interesting media is not reporting that outside of Wuhan in Hubei province there were just 5 new cases yesterday.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:48

      The reason the media is writing about it a lot is because it is popular. I work at, a so to say, relatively distinguished broadcasting company. We were briefed that our ten most read articles yesterday were all related to the virus, that our readership was significantly up and that we should keep reporting about it constantly to keep our numbers up.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:22

    Montenegro's loss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:26

      Well you never know. Better to be safe then sorry.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:51

    It would be quite interesting to look have fares to Milan decreased in recent days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:08

      On Air Serbia they haven't. Next week Belgrade-Milan return (lowest fare without luggage) is 180 euros

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:04

      Pricey considering the service they offer.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:51

    So Wizz can fly from Milan to Skopje and from Milan to Ohrid but it can't fly from Milan to Podgorica?? What a joke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:05

      It's up to each government to decide.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:03

      Turkey has banned all flights from Italy.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:50

      No. From Milan. What are you talking about?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:31

      Turkish Anadoly:"Turkish Airlines announced on Sunday it has temporarily canceled ALL flights to Italy...."
      https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/turkish-airlines-temporarily-halts-flights-to-italy/1750357

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:31

      ALL
      https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/turkish-airlines-temporarily-halts-flights-to-italy/1750357

      Delete
  14. Anonymous11:52

    What about Croatia Airlines' flights to Milan? Is it still operating?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:04

      OU flies Milan seasonally. From May. This will be over soon.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous16:25

      One Nostradamus more....

      Delete
    3. Anonymous16:50

      OU will fly to Milan normally, since till May everything will be over, Cassandra.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:50

      Given the pace of epidemic in N. Italy you might got it right... May (this or next year, not quite clear yet)

      Delete
  15. Anonymous12:17

    Looks like TIA will be getting the Italians passengers from Montenegro

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:03

      But there are no flights from TIA to TGD.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:09

      Yes there aren't. The distance between TIA and Podgorica is less than 150 km. Those passengers can simply fly to TIA instead.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:12

      When does Wizz launch all those new Italy flights from Tirana? Or have they already launched?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:56

      They will launch them throughout 2020

      Delete
  16. Anonymous14:03

    Do Wizz/Ryan reroute passengers on other airlines or do they just give them a refund?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:38

      I'm not sure if it's applied in this case but what I know Wizz often does is that they refund you by putting the amount of your ticket on your Wizz account and the money basically has to be used on another Wizz Air ticket or service.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:02

      Stingy

      Delete
  17. Anonymous11:24

    And noone thinks that Wizz or Ryan or MNE airport is performing bad on the routs so they cancel them?! Ah, right, that's just in case of AirSerbia. Haters are gona hate!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous12:13

    Get informed....

    BA & easyJet - canceling flights to northern Italy 
    El Al - cancel ALL flights to Italy, 
    American Airlines suspending flights to Milan after U.S. travel warning
    RYANAIR has halved the number of Milan-Tbilisi-Milan flights starting on March 9 to April 7,
    Ryanair since 28FEB20 suspended bookings for service between Aqaba and Italy, in addition to previously reported Amman.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous08:26

    Oh reading comments here, you just realize how many 'experts' we have here in ex Yu in the field of aviation. I wonder how we dont have soo many profitable and amazing Lufthansa like companies. Cause it seems they all know what would they do better and much 'smarter' than the existing companines. o.O

    ReplyDelete
  20. Until when is the Montenegro - North Italy travel bam likely to remain in place?

    ReplyDelete

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