The Montenegrin government has reached an agreement with financing and leasing company GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to acquire two Embraer E195 aircraft for the country’s new national airline ToMontenero. The two jets were previously operated by the former national carrier Montenegro Airlines under a financial lease deal with GECAS, which would have seen the company become the aircraft’s owner over time. However, the airline had to make a further 39 million US dollars in payments for the jets. The Montenegrin government managed to renegotiate the purchase price to 21.780.000 US dollars. Had the agreement been terminated, it would have set the state back 43 million US dollars.
The Montenegrin Minister for Finance, Milojko Spajić, said in a statement, “We have made huge progress. Instead of the state paying over 43 million US dollars for the termination of the lease agreement and loosing the two aircraft, today we decided to buy them for just over 21 million US dollars. As a result, they are now permanently owned by the state. Painstaking and direct daily negotiations took place with GECAS over the past month in order for this agreement to be reached”. He added, “With the purchase of these two aircraft, we are one step closer to reaching our goal, which is for ToMontenegro to become operational and for flights to commence by June 1”.
The government has also issued a public call this week to select a consultant which will assist in the process of establishing the country’s new national airline. Services will include: support for the acquisition of a new Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), a plan for the new carrier such as the drafting of an organisational structure, business model, transition plan of key assets from Montenegro Airlines, market analysis and commercial plan, support in ensuring operational readiness as soon as possible, as well as operational, staffing, employment, training, IT deployment, and management plans. Furthermore, the consultant will provide support for the start of operations and coordination between the commercial and operational sectors, the efficient launch of flight operations, aircraft maintenance plan and control, crew and dispatch department plans, drafting of an efficient route network and the establishment of a competent customer support centre. The deadline for the submission of bids has been set as early as February 24 with a decision on the winner to be made by March 3.
Good to see things are moving in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a good deal they made there
ReplyDeleteHow old are the jets?
ReplyDelete10-12 years
DeleteThanks. They are not that young but still a great price.
Delete10 years is quite common and not that old. Many European carriers have ageing fleets.
DeleteThe fact that they gave just a few days for the submission of consultancy bids and will select a winner in just a weeks means the tender has already been fixed and the job given to someone.
ReplyDeleteRead again, it was existing contract with GECAS, it was just renegotiated price for aircrafts
DeleteWhich two have been bought? 4O-AOA, AOB or AOC?
ReplyDeleteThey already had one Embraer, and now they have all three ;) (they still need to pay off the first 195)
DeleteIt seems AOC was purchased by YM in 2010 on credit
Deletehttps://www.vijesti.me/vijesti/drustvo/106211/letio-5-000-sati-za-10-miliona-dolara
Pretty quick reaction and organisation. So they might stick to their initial target.
ReplyDeleteAlso good they stuck to the E195, which is the perfect size and suitable aircraft.
I'm still not sure June 1 is realistic but they have been relatively quick
DeleteCan't wait to see the livery. Still don't like the airline's name.
ReplyDeleteIsn't this just the working title. Or have they stuck to it?
DeleteIt started off a working title but it seems they are sticking to it.
Delete*as a working title
DeleteThey said the livery would be similar but red.
DeleteCongratulations. Showing the Slovenian government how things should be done.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteKeep creating new loss-making flag carriers, sound decisions all around, yes.
DeleteMontenegro was on its way to receive almost 2,5 million visitors in 2019 and for a small country those numbers are big. A flag carrier or major airline will be needed to sustain those figures and the local economy. Flights to Moscow, Paris and maybe Warszawa are definitely needed in summer
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Montenegro
If MNE were to be an EU member, those numbers would have been been much larger.
Plenty of Russian carriers fly to Montenegro, WAW/KTW was flown by LOT and Paris by Transavia (seasonally of course, don't imagine there's much demand in the winter).
DeleteJune 1 you still loose the entire pre season.
ReplyDeleteIt's corona era. There are no preseasons or seasons anymore.
DeleteIt's not just about pre season, all agreement with tour operators are gone. So you can't count on organised arrival of tourists. For example tour groups from France have cancelled all planned tours for this summer in Montenegro because there is no airline to take them there. They had agreement with YM.
DeleteNo airline that can take them? People are flying so much that there is no spare capacity anywhere? Like, let's choose a random French airline - ASL - they can't fly charters? Just Milo's propaganda.
DeleteRidiculous. There are loads of airlines out there desperate for tour operators' business. If the tour operators have cancelled the contract and don't want to renew with the new airline, it's because they don't want to take the risk this summer because of the pandemic.
DeleteWith 2 aircraft they can have a respectable network. I wonder what will its routes be.
ReplyDeleteThe only one that is certain is BEG.
DeleteBEG, FRA, ZRH, LJU, VIE, CDG
DeleteLIS is a must! This route will be YM's longest and they can collaborate with TP and have access to the Latin American market. 3 weekly TGD-LIS sounds reasonable.
DeleteI really don't see demand for Lisbon other than some Portugese tour groups.
DeleteLIS is really very far from being a must!
DeleteHow can the fact that LIS is a long route be an argument FOR it? Long means expensive to operate, so that's a major argument AGAINST it.
DeleteBecause this route was intended to be developed by the previous YM. You can checkout the announcement here:
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/p/montenegro-airlines-podgorica-lisbon.html
The schedule was PERFECT allowing transfer and also avoid parking the aircraft at night when it can easily fly to Portugal and return to Montenegro and preparing its departure to its next morning destination e.g. CDG or AMS.
The previous YM failed.
DeleteAccesa to Latin America. Lot of 'business travellers' fly to Colombia.
DeleteThey are working fast
ReplyDeleteTrue. In just 2 months they registered new airline, acquired two aircraft, named the new management and will select a consultant.
DeleteBut now begins the hard part. Getting AOC, getting slots, forming route network...
DeleteForging partnership with other airlines too.
DeleteWell, JU will be the first.
DeleteYay! Good to see we will have 3 flag carrier in ex-Yu after all.
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling to understand, why, if they have appointed a CEO and BoD, on top of all the other folks within the Ministry and Govt working on this project, do they need consultants to do everything that this "expert" (NB: this is the govt's wording of these people, not mine) group of people should be doing ? So what was the point of employing and appointing these guys ?
ReplyDeleteWhat am I missing here ?
There doesn't seem to be any more talk about Hogan and his consultancy .... it's all gone quiet. Although an earlier comment seems to have summed things up well ... the fact that this tender has been called so late and requires a quick turnaround, suggests that things have already been stitched up. It'll probably be Lufthansa Consulting
ReplyDeleteFast and adequate. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHope new company will work closely with Air Serbia
ReplyDeleteI'm happy for our Montenegrin colleagues who, despite loosing their jobs recently, will be able to keep their flying careers ongoing.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately those of us who used to work for Adria, can forget about flying ever again. Some of us are lucky enough to have alternative education, the rest are in big trouble.
There were flying jobs around the world before the pandemic and they will be there after this is all over. No need to be negative.
DeleteSure doesn't seem like it. According to some, there are close to 10k unemployed pilots in Europe at the moment.
DeleteBut, I sure hope you're right.
Montenegro Airlines owns one Fokker 100 aircraft(Bought from republic of Macedonia,aircraft old registration is Z3-AAE,montenegrin registration 40-AOK) and operated three Embraer 195 planes under rent. Two of the Embraer 195 aircraft are leased out by GECAS, while the other one has been operated under financial leasing with Brazil's BNDS and fully paid bank credit from Macedonian bank for aircraft Fokker100.
ReplyDeleteThe planes will be purchased for the needs of ToMontenegro, the successor of troubled flag carrier Montenegro Airlines, which operated the aircraft under a lease agreement signed with GECAS in 2007, the Montenegrin government said in a statement on Tuesday 16.02.2021.
Stop writing nonsense. The aircraft was not bought from Macedonia. Montenegro Airlines leased it to Air Vardar for a grand total of 6 months.
Delete+1000 @ 15:12
DeletePlus Air Vardar was neva launched. Here you can see the list of defunct airlines in NMK and there is no mention of one being leased to Crna Gora:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_airlines_of_North_Macedonia
Total of 14 defunct airlines
I can only salute and wish success! Some major routes will work, i am sure. Bucharest - Tarom hub and gates to middle east in some sort, Frankfurt as LH gate, Warsaw as LOT. More than enough, on start and maybe some specific routes
ReplyDeleteI don't understand your post. First you wish YM luck, then you mention how other airlines can start flights to Montenegro.
Deletesmall airline on start could be alive by feeding main hubs, that will at least give passenger flow, some income(not empty planes) and name of the company will start to show up. maybe i am wrong, as obviously it is only my opinion
DeleteThis is doomed, again.
ReplyDeleteNot really, they will build new airline on a healthier foundation. Air Serbia should have opened a base in Montenegro instead. Some people here objected to that idea: "Why, now that Montenegro Airlines is gone, Air Serbia should just take over all passengers between Belgrade and Montenegro"
DeleteYeah, for 6-7 months or so, and then current JU monopoly period is gone and you are back to the same old. JU ATRs competing against new airline's E195 is not a winning proposition. Only this time ToMontenegro will be on healthier financial ground than YM was, so JU will end up regretting being passive. And I say that as Air Serbia fan.
Not really, same old problems will begin again at new YM, just give it some time.
DeleteWho will cover old YMs debts? It will be another place to employ party yes men & women, friends, family.
Ista priča drugo pakovanje.
Anon 19:16 How is this related to Air Serbia failing to base an aircraft in Montenegro? It took over 25 years for YM to close, it could take more for the new airline. Air Serbia failed to react, there no point in trying to shift conversation to YM nepotism etc.
DeleteBEG - for O&D
ReplyDeleteMUC or VIE - for a hub
PRG, secondary German and French airports, Ukraine, maybe Scandinavia - for tourists
one aircraft: two daily to MUC or VIE: in the early morning and late evening, between these flights, a flight or two to BEG
second and third aircraft: one or two weekly to multiple tourist destinations (during winter replaced with flights to hubs like AMS, LON, FRA, BRU)
BEG for a hub.
DeleteIf JU is interested in making BEG a hub, they will fly to Montenegro themselves in times appropriate for their waves. No need to replace them here and lose money.
DeleteNot sure if I follow you. BEG is a hub for JU. Has been for years. Increasing destinations and frequencies especially in the last few years.
DeleteJU does fly to both TIV & TGD themselves. 3-4 times daily. More in summer, and would have been even more if it was not for Covid.
Who said anything about replacing JU?
I listed destinations that should be served by the new airline and you added: "BEG for a hub". No, this is not a destination that should be served by the new airline other than for O&D. If JU needs pax at certain times at BEG, it will fly to Montenegro for these pax, precisely as it does now. No need to replace JU in this function. The new airline may fly to BEG at times it has a free aircraft not worrying about connections onto JU. This gives flexibility.
DeleteI said "BEG for a hub" because it can be, not only those other cities you listed.
DeleteWhy not new YM fly to BEG? There is demand, and it is one of their few money makers.