Air Montenegro will add a fourth Embraer E195 aircraft to its fleet after concluding an agreement with Dutch lessor TrueNoord. The jet, currently registered OY-NZO, is fourteen years old and will become the youngest in Air Montenegro’s fleet. It previously operated for Brazil’s Azul Airlines and has been stored in Saarbrucken in Germany since August last year. The plane is expected to join the Air Montenegro fleet by mid-May, with a monthly leasing cost of 115.000 US dollars. The 118-seat aircraft, which will carry the Montenegrin registration 4O-AOI, is currently undergoing maintenance ahead of its return to service, after which it will be repainted into the airline’s livery.
The Montenegrin flag carrier owns two E195s and last year concluded a long-term dry lease for a third, which it is now negotiating to acquire. “By 2028, the introduction of another Embraer aircraft is possible, and we will not stop at four aircraft. We will expand our fleet with at least one more”, Air Montenegro’s CEO, Vukadin Stojanović, said. He added, “Looking ahead to 2026, our goals include passenger growth and the continuation of our digital transformation. We face significant challenges in terms of market competition, fuel costs and increasingly stringent regulations, but we have the tools, the team, and the financial foundation to successfully address them”.
Air Montenegro expects the upcoming Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights to support another record year for the airline. The Montenegrin government has adopted a decision to designate six PSO routes from Podgorica Airport. PSOs enable the allocation of state funds to support unprofitable air services deemed essential for regional connectivity and economic development. The year-round routes include Brussels, Amsterdam, Zagreb and Bari, while services to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt will operate on a seasonal winter basis. A public tender for the selection of operating carrier(s) is expected to be launched shortly. The PSO services are scheduled to commence on June 1 this year and will run for a four-year period, until May 31, 2030. Air Montenegro, which is expected to secure most, if not all, of the contracts, has confirmed it will participate in the tender and believes the new routes will help drive another record year for the airline.
Good to see Air Montenegro slowly building up its fleet.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that a 14-year-old aircraft will be the youngest in the fleet. Says a lot about their current fleet age profile.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not necessarily bad for a very seasonal market it serves
Delete115k USD per month sounds reasonable in today’s market, especially considering how tight aircraft availability has become.
ReplyDeletethey locked a good deal
DeleteI think JU is paying less for their Ejets
Delete^ They don't. They pay between 130-140K a month.
DeleteBut the drop in dollar's exchange rate helps a lot all non US carriers.
I do not think this year will be easy as they think with the Wizz Air base.
ReplyDeleteIf they secure most of the PSOs, this will basically guarantee stable revenue for the next four years.
DeleteSo their strategy is to slowly become a PSO-dependent airline rather than a fully commercial operator?
Delete* It is a reasonable strategy for an airline based in such a small market.
DeleteIf they really plan a fifth aircraft by 2028, they’ll need a much stronger commercial strategy than this.
ReplyDeleteThey better secure some ATRs to get profitability. Only at BEG route they would spare a lot of money. Not to mention so many possible regional routes
DeleteThis sort of airline would be perfect for Slovenia.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhat are the yearly expenses of airMontenegro?
DeleteI already said this before, but they laughed at me. If Slovenia is able to give Ukraine 200 million every six months (which will still be in debt years after the war), but we are stingy to give 2 million a year for an airline, that is sad.
DeleteWhen the government put this plan on the table, it faced strong opposition which received extensive media coverage. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS), Fraport were against it. The Minister of Finance (a former CEO of JP) and the Minister of the Economy were also opposed to it. Boštjančič was open and clear about his position, while the Minister of the Economy supported the proposal on a declarative level but opposed it in practice.
DeleteHowever, the proposal was supported by
- representatives of the real economy (hospitality, congress tourism, foreign investments) who were not part of politically motivated associations,
- aviation industry (Fraport excluded).
Interestingly, the general public was quite divided, but I would say the proposal enjoyed broader support than JP ever did.
At one point, both GZS and Fraport changed their public stance—perhaps realizing how controversial their stance was. Still, behind the scenes, they continued to oppose it. Is that even conceivable? It sounds hard to believe, but it appears to be true.
In the end, the plan failed, and it is unlikely to return anytime soon.
If I am not mistaken, Fraport is German, which is why there is so much opposition. Last week, SolinAir (a Slovenian carrier owned by foreigners) opened a new hangar at Brnik Airport. Fraport presented it as intended for their management, not SolinAir.
DeleteIt is true, however, that in 2021 Slovenia applied to the European Union for a 'national plan for resilience and recovery,' for which funds would also have been intended for the 'new' Adria Airways, but Brussels put up a red light. Source: Necenzurirano
Montenegro needs a good national airline. Air Montenegro is one and is on its way to becoming even better.
ReplyDeleteI think that AM will cease to exist soon. They made money only on Belgrade route in YU code share. With Wizz base and so many routes, will be pa pa soon.
DeleteAgain concept of YU was not wrong but local glavars preferred their fiefs.
DeleteCompetition will be brutal, especially with Wizz Air around.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Wizz Air’s expansion in Podgorica is sustainable in the long term. The capacity is too large, and I expect that at least 30% of the routes will be cut or turned into seasonal flights. If Montenegro Airlines steps in and takes over some of these routes with smaller capacity after Wizz Air drops them, it could work well.
DeleteA bit sad that they aim for the fleet of max 5 aircraft, but I think that's a hard cap limit with Wizz base. Cover the niche routes together with PSOs, and wait for Ukraine/Russian airspace to open for Tivat flights. Good luck Air Montenegro, you showed us what Slovenia missed
ReplyDeleteAny idea why the AO-AOA is parked at the Bydgoszcz airport since November?
ReplyDeleteIt has been undergoing maintenance. Staffing and spare part issues have resulted in the long down time. It is expected back in Montenegro next week.
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