TRIP REPORT | INDEX
Route: Podgorica Airport - Nikola Tesla Airport
Trip taken: January 2019
Scheduled Time: 1 hour
Following my
last flight from Belgrade to Podgorica with Montenegro Airlines, I selected the last flight of the day from Podgorica Airport to Belgrade and it was one of the smoothest Air Serbia experiences that I recently had.
Arriving to the airport in the suburb of Podgorica called Golubovci a bit more than an hour and a half before the flight turned out to be the wrong decision. After completing check-in procedure, which I previously started online by creating my boarding pass in PDF format, passengers were not allowed to go through the passport and security control until 45 minutes before take-off time. Since capacity at the airport’s general waiting hall is limited, it was impossible to find a place to sit. I spent the time tracking the inbound flight from Belgrade, to make sure the return from Podgorica would be on time.
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| Final cleaning for the day of the airport building started even before the passengers of the last flight boarded their aircraft |
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| Podgorica Airport evening and morning schedule |
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| Duty Free Shop was closed |
Since the flight from Belgrade arrived on time, the return JU175 was ready to board 25 minutes before the scheduled take off.
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| - The boarding procedure was quick and smooth, performed through two gates |
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| YU-ALV was boarded from the tarmac of Podgorica Airport, the traditional way when the weather is nice |
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| Podgorica Airport by night |
With boarding completed 15 minutes before scheduled take off, the ATR72 was ready to leave Podgorica even ahead of time.
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| More than half of the seats were empty on the last flight of the day from Podgorica to Belgrade |
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| Regular offer on Air Serbia flights - fresh water and two cookies |
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| Ten minutes ahead of schedule, we landed at Nikola Tesla Airport with the lights dimmed as was the case upon departure |
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| One bus was more than enough to handle all the passengers |
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| YU-ALV at Nikola Tesla Airport |
Belgrade Airport was not too crowded in the evening hours so the baggage was delivered relatively quickly - at least much faster than it can often take at this airport.
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| All luggage from all passengers from all flights were scanned by the Customs officers - even though it was the green “Nothing to Declare” gate |
This Air Serbia flight was truly a smooth and efficient experience of getting from the Montenegrin to the Serbian capital. While passengers had no reasons to worry, the company could be counting empty seats - one of the challenges for off-season flights between the two neighbouring states.
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Nice trip report, why don't they let you pass to the departure area if it's empty? I understand during the day when there might be other flights but JU is the last departure of the day.
ReplyDeleteInteresting JU ad for New York and a free visit to the city of Belgrade. I am sure this might be popular with locals since all of them are familiar with Belgrade.
Nice report!
ReplyDeleteYesterday JU 181 from TIV had only 25 inbound pax. I guess good for an ATR in February.
Meanwhile our flight from LHR was overbooked by 8. :D
DeleteI really like the JU livery, it's really gorgeous and classy.
ReplyDeleteThis stupid customs in BEG and INI, like flights would arrive from China or South America to smuggle something
ReplyDeleteNope. Serbia is making record revenue from customs. That Xray is money printing machine. It they were smarter they would add more xray machines.
DeleteYou were very lucky. My flight from Podgorica was delayed 10 hours which I had to spend at that tiny airports gate. Wasn't pleasant experience since there is nothing to do and small cafe ran out of sandwiches.
DeleteThe lords of the rings - Two cookies😁
ReplyDelete