Air Montenegro plans to expand its operations during the 2023/24 winter season, which begins tomorrow and runs until March 30 of next year. The carrier will introduce a new two weekly service between Podgorica and Rome on December 15. Montenegro’s former national airline, Montenegro Airlines, maintained flights between the two capitals until the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, while Wizz Air has this year turned the city pair into a seasonal summer route. Furthermore, Air Montenegro has upgraded its seasonal summer flights between Podgorica and Zurich into year-round operations. From Tivat, the airline will increase frequencies to Istanbul from five weekly, during the previous winter, to daily.
The Montenegrin flag carrier is still undecided whether it will follow through with plans to open a base in Tuzla. The carrier had initially intended to station an aircraft in the city and launch flights to ten destinations across Europe. However, the airline has only been granted permits to operate seventh-freedom flights on two of its planned routes - Istanbul and Maastricht - while authorities from Luxembourg are yet to make a final decision on the service request.
As previously reported, Air Montenegro plans to wet-lease either a CRJ900 or an Embraer E190 or E195 aircraft from January 1, 2024 until March 31, 2024, with delivery to take place by December 31, 2023. The jet will operate alongside the airline’s two E195s. Furthermore, Air Montenegro is currently in the process of selecting a new passenger service system provider (reservation system), which, once implemented, should enable the airline to sell connecting flights and offer more options to its passengers.
Information in the tables below are of an informative nature and subject to change. You can review Croatia Airlines’ and Air Serbia’s planned winter operations by clicking on the respective links.
Departing Podgorica
Departing Tivat
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For the short time it has been around, their network looks more than decent
ReplyDeleteThey serve just 5 destinations in winter...
DeleteHaving a feeling they won't even start the Tuzla flights
ReplyDeleteLooks like it
DeleteEvery time an airport loses an important customer they go into overdrive hoping they will compensate as much as possible. Since both Ryanair and Wizz Air failed in Tuzla they had to court someone who is as desperate as they were.
DeleteUnfortunately reality kicked in and here we are. They have secured 20% of the permits they were hoping to get.
In the end TZL will keep on struggling but I doubt it will be shut down as it employs valuable political allies.
So desperate TZL turns to desperate Air Montenegro. What could go wrong?
DeleteNo Frankfurt in winter???
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteKind of ironic that both Air Serbia and Turkish Airlines have more weekly flights to TGD and TIV than Air Montenegro has in its entire network
ReplyDeleteTrue.
DeleteWhy is that ironic? Small country, small carrier.
DeleteDoes Air Montenegro have one plane based in Tivat?
ReplyDeleteOne yes.
DeleteIn ten years from now Air Montenegro won't exist
ReplyDeleteTen years? You are being ambitious. I give them maximum 4 to 5.
DeleteI give them 2-3 years maximum.
DeleteIn your dreams
DeleteHow long do you think gov will tolerate constant losses?
DeleteBoth Montenegro and their national carrier will exist. With access to the sea, unlike your land. Land-locked land.
DeleteMontenegro Air or whatever it is called hs no future because the market it serves can't provide it with enough passengers to operate profitably.
DeleteTolerate losses? Simple economics. They bring added value in so many ways that exceed the losses and compensate for it, but, you clearly don't get it.
DeleteHmmm ... then why did Montenegro Airlines collapse?
DeleteYes we can see all that value from their vast network both in summer and winter.
DeleteAs usual Nemjee writes either very reasonable comments or very absurd ones. What all makes you that "whatever it's called" Air Montenegro won't exist? Montenegro is a quite touristic country with a beautiful coast and cool sites. It was able to recreate its carrier in times of crisis, where many airlines were struggling. A country of less than quarter of a million putting a shame to all others such as Slovenia and North Macedonia. And yeah, if we are going to compare Air Montenegro with Air Serbia, then better drop the discussion. Because 10 years ago, Serbia had one of the weakest airlines in the region before the Etihad marriage. So, why not giving Air Montenegro the same chance to grow?
Delete13 destinations approx for an airline that is 2 years old coming from a small country is a remarkable achievement.
Montenegro has about 600,000 population.
DeleteYou are right to say there is no comparison between 4O & JU. So why are you comparing them? Totally different markets, population size, tourist structure. Corruption and nepotism is prelevant in MNE, this and constant losses will eventually lead to the collapse of Air Montenegro.
Rhodes is home to some 125.000 people and its airport welcomed close to 6 million passengers last year. On the other hand, you have Montenegro with 600.000 citizens and roughly 2 million passengers. Yet today we have Air Montenegro but we don't have Air Rhodes or Rhodes Airlines, why is that?
DeleteBecause Rhodes as a tourist island knows that demand collapses in winter and it would make no commercial sense for them to waste money they made in summer on keeping an airline alive in winter.
Aegean has roughly 2 A320s parked at the airport during peak summer months and operates mostly charter flights. Though many are actually operated as a W pattern from either ATH or HER some are directly from RHO.
If we take TIV and TGD numbers and actually remove traffic flying to BEG, INI and KVO how many are left? Not that many. So basically Air Montenegro or whatever version we are seeing now is doomed to fail especially these days when JU isn't too willing to work with them. No need to quote Marek, he was probably being polite when he mentioned cooperation with 4O.
So how many passengers can 4O realistically carry from MNE that are not going to Serbia? No MNE carrier can survive without being dominant on the MNE-BEG market. YM knew this and that is why they fought so hard to preserve their dominant position on the market. Unfortunately (for them) they were shut down, JU stepped in and everything changed since then.
The best solution going forward would be for MNE to court LCCs to handle summer traffic coming from Western Europe. As mentioned above, having a national airline which bleeds millions makes little to no sense. Slovakia struggled in the same manner but then they embraced reality and stopped trying to have a national carrier. Same seems to be the case with Lithuania.
You can't compare Jat Airways and Air Montenegro. JU is based in a big city with a massive catchment area. 4O is based at two airports (which already complicates operations) where one airport literally shuts down once summer is gone. That is why JU makes commercial sense while YM/4O don't. At the end of the day, one became profitable and is growing while the other continues to struggle and keeps on recording large losses. That is why it makes no sense to give 4O any chances because long-term they don't have what is needed in order to grow and become relevant. Especially not when their management started operations without having proper systems put in place etc.
Like I said, 4O like most European carriers based in smaller markets is bound to fail.
Bravo Nemjee! Well done!
DeleteNot being able to have codeshares or connecting flights is a huge issue. Thankfully this will be sorted out soon.
ReplyDelete'Just' 3 years after they launched flights...
DeleteNo demand to LJU in winter? I think FCO is a good choice and they can consider MXP as well and maybe resume LIS in summer. For an airline that has been created during a time of crisis, the network is more than respectable especially the size and population of MNE. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure about the demand from LJU in winter, think it is still there, lots of us using JU to TGD due to a schedule flexibility.
DeleteLjubljana was 3x weekly last winter as well? At least i think so Tovat was always 4x weekly and Podgorica 3x weekly
ReplyDeleteIt was 4 weekly most of last winter.
DeleteThey had to shave a frequency off somewhere to introduce Rome, keep Zurich and increase Istanbul. They wouldn't touch BEG because it is their most profitable route and IST is also doing well financially.
DeleteIST seems to becoming an important market for them.
ReplyDeleteIn what destinations they could expand that could be profitable in the future?
ReplyDeleteFRA, MUC, Moscow.
DeleteLondon?
DeleteLondon failed during Montenegro Airlines times as well and back then they actually had some transfer passengers and a bigger network.
DeleteFailed because of lack of demand, or because of poor finances and organization on behalf of Montenegrin?
DeleteWish them the best of luck. We need ex-Yu flag carriers.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteYes, it is 1973 after all.
Delete^ Yes, now in 2023 we can enjoy nonstop flights to a megapolis like Vaxjo.
Delete@13.17 take that a positive development! im pretty sure you are a mega frequent flyer with expensive flag carriers
Deleteto add all the trends in European (and worldwide aviation) since the 90s are the development of p2p routes.
DeleteYes Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Turkish, Lufthansa, Austrian, Aegean, Air Baltic are great examples of such 'trends'
DeleteSure are.
Deletelol Wizz has more pax in the region then LH, Austrian, Aaegean and Baltic together
Delete^ you are starting to sound like the analiticar now. Your comments are complete nonsense.
DeleteHow about connecting TIV & TGD with more points in Europe? This is a shameful network. Wizz Air flies to more destinations from Podgorica than Air Montenegro.
ReplyDelete4O would need more planes for dat, and dats not gonna apen anytime soon.
DeleteWill they increase frequencies or introduce some new routes once they wet lease the CRJ/Embraer plane from January?
ReplyDeleteAt the moment the frequencies are the same from jan onwards.
DeleteThat wet-leased aircraft is there so both E195s can go for scheduled maintenance.
DeleteMontenegro Airlines in winter 2019 from Podgorica
ReplyDeleteBelgrade 15
Frankfurt 2
Ljubljana 6
Paris 2
Rome 3
Vienna 3
Zurich 3
It also produced millions in losses.
Deleteand what about Air Montenegro?
DeleteProducing fewer losses
DeleteBut still in the millions.
Delete", Air Montenegro is currently in the process of selecting a new passenger service system provider (reservation system), which, once implemented, should enable the airline to sell connecting flights and offer more options to its passengers."
ReplyDeleteFinally!
I wouldn't expect another plane any time soon.
DeleteAir Montenegro should relinquish TGD BEG route to JU with a full code and revenue sharing deal. And then they can free up planes for more route from TIV & TGD.
ReplyDeleteTheir Belgrade routes are their cashcows.
DeleteThey would be stupid to give them up.
Even decreasing frequencies to there are a mistake.
Dont forget that Montenegro Airlines once was leading on this segment!
I was thinking of some sort of partnership with JU. Total revenue sharing, full code sharing, splitting the profits.
DeleteNot sure what that would mean for pax in terms of pricing seeing that it would almost be a monopoly for JU.
Why would JU go for a joint venture/revenue sharing scheme with 4O? What's in it for them?
DeleteConsolidating the market, taking the first steps to taking control of the Montenegrin market. Being on the 'ground' when and if 4O collapses.
DeleteYM was dominant because of political influence and because Jat's operations were collapsing. Have we forgotten Master Airways? YM loved to milk the Serbian market and they could do so while JU was weak.
DeleteHowever, from a purely economic point of view, Serbia has little to gain from JU cooperating with 4O. JU is already dominating this market and helping 4O would only create unwanted and unnecessary competition for JU coming from a foreign country. If JU helps 4O stabilize their operations then it would mean more non-stop flights from TGD and TIV which would reduce the need to transfer in BEG.
If JU was struggling to make these flights work then ok. However looking at their MNE offer both in summer and winter they seem to be doing more than ok and passengers seem to have gotten used to flying with them.
Eventually if MNE wanted to make this market more competitive then they should push for a revision of the bilateral so that a third carrier such as Wizz Air or Ryanair can step in and launch flights. That is what customers would benefit from, they wouldn't profit from a struggling, perpetually loss-making 4O which would anyway create a duopoly with JU.
Moze!
Delete