Montenegro gets over 500 proposals for new flag carrier


The Montenegrin government has received over 500 proposals for its new national carrier after calling upon the general public for suggestions and providing an e-mail address for those interested to pitch their ideas. The proposals range from the logo and design of the livery, to name suggestions and business pitches. The Montenegrin government has registered a new national airline under the working title “ToMontenegro” to replace its indebted national carrier Montenegro Airlines, which ceased operations on December 25 of last year. "Over 500 proposals with the name, logo and design have been submitted so far at 2montenegro@gov.me. I expect even more suggestions in the coming period. Thank you to everyone and thank you for believing in new beginnings”, Montenegro’s Finance Minister, Milojko Spajić, said. 

The Montenegrin government has vowed to set up a new flag carrier as soon as possible but conceded the process may take several months, as the new company has not been established as a successor to Montenegro Airlines, whose accounts are blocked and is in debt in excess of 100 million euros. However, the clock is ticking, with much of the former carrier’s crew having time limitations on the validity of their permits, while departure and arrival slots at European airports will also be lost. Furthermore, Montenegro Airlines has one Embraer 195 jet on financial lease. The first of two annual lease payments to the Brazilian Development Bank, amounting to 1.8 million euros, is due within weeks. If the two payments are made, Montenegro Airlines will officially become the aircraft’s owner this year. 

As time continues to pass, foreign carriers are also ramping up their operations to Montenegro or entering the market for the first time. Montenegro Airlines had no competition on three year-round services out of Podgorica. Among them, Paris was the busiest with 42.894 passengers handled in 2019. The route was codeshared by Air France. It was followed by Zurich with 28.294 travellers and Frankfurt with 27.596 passengers. Swiss carrier Chair Airlines has announced it will commence operations to Podgorica on April 1, to cover the void left by the Montenegrin carrier. This month, Air Serbia is Montenegro’s largest airline, operating 130 flights to and from the country (both directions included) with 12.468 seats on sale.

Montenegro two-way frequency and capacity in January 2021



Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    To me this all still looks very amateurish

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:04

    I hope they pay for that Embraer otherwise all the money invested in the lease over the past years will go down the drain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Well they said they established the new company with 30 million so it could pay

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:10

      They only paid 4 million into the new company so far.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:12

      But they said eventually they will provide 30 million

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:06

      New airline with just 30 million euros... Good luck with that.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:06

    I wonder how much of it is spam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:09

      Haha my thoughts too

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    Montenegro keeps winning!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dejan09:11

    Is this a joke? They are actually asking people to email them suggestions about what to do?
    SMFH

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:14

      I can't believe it either

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      It seems they thought of a way to pick a name and logo without paying the designer.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:59

      no. they just opened competition for company's name

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:02

      There is no competition...

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:14

    Time is ticking for this new company and fast

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    Now I'm seriously wondering what was the point of closing YM.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:15

      The point was that there was no money left for it.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    They said they will need up to 9 nine months for the airline to be setup. That's the end of the summer season. Who starts a new airline at the beginning of the winter season? They will say the same and give subsidies to JU and others.

    After all, Montenegro is Air Serbia's playground. That's an undisputed fact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:17

      I highly doubt they are going to subsidize Air Serbia.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      Of course... we all should give money to JU

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:20

      They said up to 9 months but they would try and have it ready by peak summer season.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:22

      Why would Montenegro give money to them if it is already their playground? For what?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:24

      It makes sense for JU to add more flights from MNE to other destinations in Europe or to maybe run charters from Tivat to cover what was lost by YM.
      I mean in Montenegro it makes so much more sense to subsidize a Serbian airline than some random Hungarian one.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:32

      Are you serious? Random hungarian? That "random hungarian" carries far more passengers, has far larger and newer fleet then JU and it developed many destination to popular tourist places with attractive fares. I would rather say foe JU "random" then for Wizz. For market like montenegro it is far more productive to subsidise Ryan Air or Wizz then any small legacy airline. And they already have many LCC routes to Europe.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:58

      "run charters from Tivat to cover what was lost by YM"

      You would need bit more than charters

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:37

      Yeah Wizz is so great and reliable, just ask all the airports that are left without service starting with Debrecen. Better to stay away from such predators.

      I'm on team JU all the way.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:46

      "I mean in Montenegro it makes so much more sense to subsidize a Serbian airline than some random Hungarian one."

      I love how people call an airline with the fleet 6 times the size of JU and 14 times more passengers flown in 2019 a "random Hungarian one".

      Delete
    10. Anonymous12:54

      Anon 11:37
      They left these airports because there was no demand. I doubt JU will not do that. And you only want JU more then Wizz beacuse you live in Serbia.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:16

    Just give money to LCCs and problem solved. Do the same Macedonia did. It costs just a million a year, which is 10 times less than will be wasted on this project.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:18

      Does MNE really want a Hungarian LCC controlling over 80% of its market? I don't think so.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:19

      It wouldn't happen because there is much stronger competition than in Macedonia.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:23

      Anon 09:18
      You have also an irish LCC in MNE. So it is immposible for Wizz to control 80%.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:24

      I thought the free market would regulate itself, right? Lol

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:28

      It is slowly. Keep in mind there is a pandemic going on.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:29

      Then there would be no need to pay LCCs

      Delete
    7. Anonymous13:59

      1 mio € ? Where did you get that? MKD is paying more than 10 mio per year to Wizz, for that amount of money you can have your own carrier with much better product.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous14:24

      Really? You can? 2 mil. passangers for 10 mil. in route subventions?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:31

      Some people think paying LCCs is better option. It is not the same if that opinion comes from anonymous reader as opposed to opinion of this site.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous14:44

      I never saw on this site any kind of opinion from admin. And i think in some cases is a better option. In many countries happend torist boom when LCCs expanded their opertaions there.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous14:55

      LCC certainly have positive economic impact. Montenegro could do as North Macedonia instead of investing in a national airline.

      This is true - regardless of who said it.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous15:31

      Yes, LCCs are surely great. But not when you have to pay them millions to fly every year and when they have almost 70% of the market share with barely any competition

      Delete
    13. Anonymous17:07

      @15.31 lol same old story. Macedonia pays them 1 milion a year (Go and figure out how cheap is that if you know at all). Accept it . Its not Wizz problem that no other airline applied for the money

      Delete
    14. Anonymous17:28

      @15:31: And how is that different from government paying millions every year to national carriers, only to end up with majority market share with barely any competition?

      Delete
    15. Anonymous17:51

      I should accept that they have chased away any competition and threatened them if they dared to stop the subsidies coming in by cutting and downgrading routes. Wizz are vultures.

      Delete
    16. Anonymous18:03

      I am a different anon: a question: why should Macedonia stop subsidies to Wizz? They pay 1 mln euro and they got 5-4 aircraft in a base. Count how much it is per seat and compare it with how much Croatia/Serbia pay yearly IN TOTAL per seat of their national carriers. What Macedonia pays is peanuts.

      Delete
    17. Anonymous19:58

      And macedonia still doesnt have flights to major european hubs

      Delete
    18. Anonymous20:04

      so what? VIE and IST are obviously enough

      Delete
    19. Anonymous20:06

      "Prethodna Vlada Crne Gore zagrizla je još jednom metak i u oktobru 2019. godine najavljen je lex specijalis koji je trebalo da preokrene tadašnju finansijsku depresiju kompanije od 80 miliona evra javno prijavljenih minusa, za pet godina, sa ukupno 155 miliona evra"

      versus 1milion a year

      Delete
    20. Anonymous20:36

      Well, Macedonia does not apparently need connections to all those major European hubs. Neither it needs a hub itself to spend 90% of its subsidies on subsidising travel that is actually not to/from Macedonia, but only transfering at its hub. This is why it pays less per seat of a based aircraft.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:17

    Flew on JU 191 yesterday and there was a group of at least 5 to 10 people connecting to Podgorica.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      I'm surprised there were over 10 people on that flight in total.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:38

      JU dis not further reduce LJU meaning flights do well in general.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:36 -- Why are you surprised ? It is ATR, with 60 people on board. If you think that there is not enough people to fill this airplane, than you are very mistaken and without and knowledge. People still need and want to fly, so there is demand at the moment. Bad news for you.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17:07

      monthly results says nae

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:45

    This whole thing is such a waste of both time and money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:04

      In 2 months no one will remember Montenegro Airlines anymore.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:05

      Anon 11:04 for Adria they were saying same thing..

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:06

      That's what they said about Adria too...

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:48

    I can only imagine the proposals :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:50

      Can't wait to see :D

      Delete
  13. Anonymous10:04

    Montenegro Airports just announced MGX owes them 25 million EUR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:06

      They owe money to everyone. That's why it had to be shut down.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:23

      Just a few days ago some local company offered to buy YM. I don't know why they don;t just give it to them.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:33

      Because they offer to buy it for 1 euro if all debts are written off.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:34

      But government will have to pay off the debts anyway.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:35

      It is not possible for the state to pay off those debts.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:35

      A mafia guy offered 1e for everything good in the company, while all of the debts (public and private!) would be transferred over to the govt. Nothing to see there, just Milo's gang.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous00:24

      Not true. Just public debts, debts to private companies, banks and institutions that company want to pay.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous10:09

    I don't think they have any plans to set up a new airline. It's just talk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:10

      Why? They said countless times the country needs a national carrier.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:35

      Wait and see.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:11

      Same scenario as in Slovenia.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:26

      Two very different markets so I think we will have different outcomes.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:01

      It's not about markets, it's also two different type of politicians who are working on that. In addition Slovenia is in EU which is even bigger problem for us in that matter.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous10:14

    Very interested to see the route network of this new airline

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:02

      Yes, very interesting:
      1. TGD-BEG-TGD
      2. TIV-BEG-TIV
      or
      TGD-BEG-TIV-BEG-TGD.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:03

      Surely there are other routes that can be profitable from Montenegro. Not just Belgrade.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:10

      VIE, ZRH, CDG, AMS, FRA, MUC, CPH, BEG, LJU

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:15

      But the passenger numbers to Zurich, Paris and Frankfurt listed in the article are quite low. Were they really making money on yhese routes.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous10:33

    TK is really operating a lot of flights to ex-Yu despite the pandemic. I mean no. 2 in Montenegro.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:50

      Someone has to provide connectivity to the east.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous11:06

    This whole process has been handled very badly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:14

      Agree. Should have left MGX flying for at least a week after you announced their closure.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:07

    At lest they started from somewhere unlike our government in Slovenia. Still waiting for that new national airline.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:13

      Actually I think a lot more has been done in Slovenia on that front then in Montenegro.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:10

      @11.07 started asking for emails from the people?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:06

      @11:07: You'll be waiting a long, long time.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:13

    Montenegrin government abolishing negative PCR test requirement since yesterday should give a boost to aviation in the country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:27

      There is no aviation industry left in Montenegro. Only foreign airlines can get a boost.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:29

      Of course there is still an aviation sector. If nothing, the airports will benefit.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:32

      Airports are hurting big time after MGX went bust.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous23:03

      How are they hurting? MGX owes them 25 million euros. So they are hurting in a way that the debt is not growing? Let's face it - MGX would have never paid the debt.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous11:15

    Surprising that Paris was busier for Montenegro Airlines then Zurich! Did not expect that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13:30

      Air France codeshare.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:48

      Yes, likely diaspora transfers to US. Plus a lot of French visit Montenegro.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:51

      They even flew to Lyon seasonally.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous11:27

    Pay off the 1 Embraer. Fly to BEG year round and a couple of seasonal routes.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous11:32

    Very difficult to create a new airline in these circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous12:30

    Is there potential for long-haul from TGD? If so, which routes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:56

      No, there is no potential for long haul. Especially in a country with population less then Chisinau or Zagreb.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:58

      I'm assuming New York has the biggest demand of all far away destinations from Podgorica. It is Air Serbia's biggest feeder out of its network on JFK flights.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:49

      Still no demand for direct flights.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:46

      Of course. Just guessing which might have the most demand for far away destinations

      Delete
  24. Anonymous19:46

    Hope they can make it a success.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous19:48

    I have to ask, what makes them think it will work the second time if it didn't the first? And I'm not against it personally, just don't see why it would be any different

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous20:19

    I think in the end we will see AirSerbia parking one plane over night for early departure and no MNX vol.2

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous11:04

    QUICK AIRLINES; "WE MAKE YOU COME QUICK"

    ReplyDelete
  28. Interesting months ahead. To many, it is obvious that this is a political move, despite what financial metrics are showing about MA. Let's wait and see (prove).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.