Balkan minnow plans to grow

Credit: roemi62 / pixabay

Plans by Montenegro’s government to extend the country’s holiday season offer opportunities for the country’s flag-carrier.

At present, Montenegro’s holiday season is limited to the traditional summer period. Tourism already accounts for around 25% of the country’s GDP and the government wants to transform the small Balkan nation – which has a cluster of winter sports resorts – into a year-round destination.

Air Montenegro is one of the smallest flag-carriers in Europe, with a fleet of just two Embraer 195s plus a single Airbus A320. The company hopes shortly to add a third E195.

The company was created in 2021, a year after the government closed its loss-making predecessor, Montenegro Airlines.

The new airline currently flies from its main base in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica and from the country’s second city, the coastal resort of Tivat, to 14 destinations, mainly in central Europe and the Balkans, but also to France, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark.

A new focus is the Baltic countries, with recent charter flights operating from Tivat to Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Tallinn (Estonia).

The airline has also begun charter flights from Podgorica to Rzeszów in Poland, following on from charters to another Polish city, Katowice, and further afield to Cairo, Tel Aviv and Yerevan (Armenia).

CEO Mark Anžur, who took over in May this year, says Air Montenegro is financially viable, has sufficient financial capitalization, and financial and traffic indicators are improving, with 2023 likely to be a record year.

Alan Dron

Based in London, Alan is Europe & Middle East correspondent at Air Transport World.