Operator Airports of Montenegro is intensifying its efforts to enhance the country’s air connectivity by attracting major international carriers. In addition to ongoing initiatives, including the opening of a two-aircraft Wizz Air base in Podgorica next summer, the operator is in advanced discussions to welcome the likes of British Airways and Volotea. Negotiations are focused on launching a new route from London Heathrow to either Podgorica or Tivat. "We have demonstrated to our British colleagues that the Montenegrin market holds tremendous potential. There is significant interest, and the introduction of a direct link to Heathrow would be a major step forward for our connectivity", the CEO of Airports of Montenegro, Roko Tolić, said.
British Airways had previously scheduled the launch of a weekly seasonal service between London Heathrow and Podgorica in 2020, however, flights were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. They were rescheduled for the summer of 2021, but were ultimately scrapped before they commenced. “British Airways has expressed interest in flying to Montenegro, which, if it materialises, would represent a big incentive for other legacy carriers and would enhance Montenegro’s connectivity to major hubs”, Airports of Montenegro said.
Beyond talks with British Airways, the airport operator is actively negotiating the addition of several other international routes. Planned new connections from Podgorica and Tivat include flights to Marseille by Volotea, Amsterdam by Transavia, Basel by easyJet, Antalya by SunExpress, Glasgow and Liverpool by Jet2.com and Hamburg, Hanover and Dusseldorf by Eurowings. Airports of Montenegro is hopeful of securing the new routes for the 2026 summer season. During the ongoing summer of 2025, Air Serbia is Montenegro’s largest carrier by available capacity with over 400,000 seats. It is followed by Air Montenegro and Wizz Air. Belgrade has the most available seats out of Montenegro this summer, followed by Istanbul and Vienna.
Impressive. Good luck MNE
ReplyDeleteWith 100k passengers per month BA will not launch any flights ;) btw just look their terminal in the capital city and all will be clear!
DeleteGood luck Montenegro!
ReplyDeleteTalks are great, but let's hope these new routes actually materialize.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBritish Airways should have launched the Podgorica flights years ago. Hopefully, this time they actually go through with it!
ReplyDeleteThe list of potential new routes looks great, but I hope there will also be more year-round flights, not just seasonal ones.
ReplyDeleteSurprised that Air Serbia is the largest carrier in Montenegro even with all the competition.
ReplyDeleteWhat competition?
DeleteTurkish, Austrian
DeleteYou can't be serious. Austrian doesn't even fly to Tivat at the moment.
DeleteI thought they were flying twice daily to TGD...TK has loads of flights..
DeleteYes, but Air Serbia flies up to 10 daily flights to Montenegro and 95% of those are on A319/320.
DeleteSounds promising, but infrastructure at the airports, especially Tivat, needs serious upgrades if they’re planning for this level of growth.
ReplyDeleteBoth airports need serious upgrades. They are cramped and disorganised.
DeleteBA flying to either Tivat or Podgorica would be massive.
ReplyDeleteI hope for year round Podgorica.
DeleteNo chance. It will be seasonal.
Deleteand if than only Tivat makes sense
DeleteMostly LCCs.
ReplyDeleteTGD has been really underperforming so far this year so let's hope these new routes manage to turn around the numbers.
ReplyDeletewill there be enough demand to sustain all these services?
ReplyDeleteInstead of focusing only on Western Europe, maybe Montenegro should also target growing markets like the Middle East or Eastern Europe.
ReplyDelete+100
DeleteDoes Sun Express currently fly to Montenegro?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteAnother Turkish carrier incoming.
DeleteAirports of Montenegro is hell bent on bankrupting Air Montenegro.
ReplyDeleteSeems like it, especially with the Wizz base.
DeleteYeah, they should instead hope and pray that Air Montenegro will bring all this extra traffic on its own. LOL, no!
DeleteIt's questionable how long the current airport management will be in place. The government is giving the airports up for concession. They are just deciding who to give it to to make the most political benefit for themselves.
DeleteA concession is the right step.
DeleteIt will help accelerate airport upgrades and traffic development.
I don't see what was the point of setting up Air Montenegro.
DeleteIt prevents JU from charging monopoly prices on the BEG-Montenegro routes.
DeleteWhich is a good thing for passengers.
Yes, I'm sure that was the main reason for creating the airline... Btw their prices are the same when they had a monopoly for 2 years. And in fact both airlines have the same prices.
DeleteImagine JU prices if it was alone.
Delete^ it was alone for 2 years and prices were the same. 80% of the fares between Serbia and Montenegro are state imposed taxes on both sides.
DeleteIs Montenegro planning a new airport in Ulcinj area to support large real estate development at Velika Plaza?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteI dont think that BA will fly to airport that how in the moment looks the one in Podgorica. Plus BA is a serious player that did not fly to many more bigger and stronger countries in the world , byt to fly to country of just 500k citizens for me is not realistic at all.
ReplyDeleteIf Ryanair or Wizz open bases in Montenegro it wont make much sense for BA to start flying there.
ReplyDeleteToo much competition on the London route.
Even without a base both Ryanair and Wizz fly from London to Podgorica.
DeleteYou will never see airline in type of BA flying to country with 500k populaton , one of the worst terminal building in the world ,and airport who barely handiling 1 million passsengers in a single year. And thats the reality lets be honest...
ReplyDeleteThey fly to Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia to a name a few of the sub 500k population countries they fly to.
DeleteGetting BA to LHR would be a major win from Montenegro, and so would some of the other routes be. Even if talks with some of the airlines fail, a Wizz Air base in TGD would make some of the mentioned routes easier to establish.
ReplyDelete