Flights between Serbia and Montenegro resumed this morning following a five-month hiatus, marking an end to the longest period without scheduled commercial operations between the two since World War Two. Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines, which boast a codeshare partnership, will operate 61 weekly flights between the two countries. Air Serbia has scheduled fifteen weekly rotations between Belgrade and Podgorica, as well as sixteen weekly flights from Belgrade to Tivat. Starting August 21, the Serbian carrier will resume seasonal two weekly operations between Niš and Tivat, which will run until September 20. Montenegro Airlines will maintain double daily flights from both Podgorica and Tivat to the Serbian capital.

Year	PAX
2016	513.162
2017	510.466
2018	526.174
2019	548.679

Commenting on the service resumption, Air Serbia’s CEO, Duncan Naysmith, said, “I am very pleased that conditions have been met for the resumption of flights to Tivat and Podgorica. We plan to offer some 60.000 seats to our passengers on flights between Serbia and Montenegro until the end of the summer season”. He added that Air Serbia will continue to closely monitor developments and will constantly adjust its Montenegro operations based on travel restrictions and demand. Overall, at this point, the airline has scheduled 296 flights to Montenegro until the end of the 2020 summer season on October 25. The General Manager of operator Airports of Montenegro, Danilo Orlandić, said, “The Serbian market is one of the most important to us, while the Belgrade route is the most frequent for both our national carriers. Airports of Montenegro sends its sincere welcome to Serbian citizens”.

Year	PAX
2016	282.874
2017	293.913
2018	299.517
2019	312.301

Serbia and Montenegro is currently the busiest cross-border market among the former Yugoslav states with 548.679 passengers travelling between the two last year. This year was set to be another record breaker. Prior to the pandemic, Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines planned to jointly operate 103 weekly flights between the two countries at the height of the summer season, with the Serbian carrier scheduling sixty weekly services, while its Montenegrin counterpart 43. Flights were suspended on March 18, marking the longest period without operations between the two states in the post-World War Two period. The first scheduled service in post-war Yugoslavia was between Belgrade and Podgorica on April 8, 1946. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the longest period without commercial services between the two was during the NATO bombing in 1999, from March 23, until operations to Tivat were restored on June 18 that same year. During the golden era of Yugoslav commercial aviation in the 1980s, the Serbia - Montenegro market was the sixth busiest in the country, preceded by Serbia - Croatia, Croatia - Croatia, Serbia - Slovenia and Serbia - Macedonia.