Foreign carriers are beginning to respond to Montenegro Airlines' demise with Switzerland's Chair Airlines announcing flights from Zurich to Podgorica starting April 1, 2021. Services will initially run three times per week with the 150-seat Airbus A319 aircraft, increasing to four weekly from May 4. The airline faces no direct competition on the route, which was previously served by the Montenegrin flag carrier. Last year, Montenegro Airlines handled 28.294 passengers between the two cities with an average annual cabin load factor of 59.9%. Chair is present in the region with flights to Pristina, Skopje and Ohrid. It will also commence seasonal operations to Split next summer. Further flight details for the new Podgorica service can be found here.

Budget carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air are both in talks with operator Airports of Montenegro over replacing select routes previously operated by the national airline. Ryanair reported Montenegro Airlines to the European Commission on December 4, 2020 for illegal state aid, which was one of the reasons the Montenegrin government decided to shut down the company. The low cost carrier has been aggressive in recent years on the Montenegrin market. It carried more than 175.000 customers through Podgorica Airport in 2019 with all routes performing strongly prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Montenegro is currently the only market in the former Yugoslavia with more than one Ryanair route, with flights to Serbia temporarily suspended and a single service to Banja Luka, while operations to Croatia are maintained only during the summer. With exception to points in Poland and Dublin, Ryanair serves its entire network out of Podgorica on a year-round basis.

Austrian Airlines, which had temporarily suspended operations between Vienna and Podgorica due to the coronavirus pandemic and was only to operate limited flights over the New Year and Christmas holidays to the Montenegrin capital has now extended services indefinitely. Operations will be maintained twice per week, each Wednesday and Sunday, until the start of the 2021 summer season. As previously reported, Air Serbia has also responded to its counterpart's demise by adding both flights and capacity from Belgrade to Podgorica and Tivat. "In addition to adjusting its schedule and capacities, Air Serbia has engaged additional resources at the airports in Podgorica and Tivat, as well as at its Belgrade hub, in order to serve all passengers under the new circumstances. The Serbian national airline will continue to monitor developments in the coming days and additionally adjust its offering to reflect changes in demand", the Serbian carrier said in a statement.

Customers who had booked with Montenegro Airlines, or hold a travel voucher issued by the carrier for suspended flights due to the pandemic, remain in limbo over potential compensation. Montenegro Airlines has now suspended ticket sales.