Montenegro Airlines is in crisis

Montenegro Airlines is in crisis

Major Montenegro airline Montenegro Airlines is experiencing hard times. The largest national airline, which carries out its flights to the airports of Podgorica and Tivat, owed to these airports for the maintenance about 4.5 million euros.

According to the head of the management company "Montenegro Airports" Milovan Dzurikovic, this debt formed in 2010. At present, Montenegro Airlines, according to Dzurikovic, is the principal debtor of the Montenegro airports. In an interview with the Montenegrin newspaper Dan operation company’s representative, hopes that the upcoming season will be successful for the Montenegro Airlines and the company will be able to eliminate or at least pay off some debt.

In February 2011 Montenegro Airlines was forced to stop service at Pristina and Skopje airports due to the increasing debt. In addition, the airline owed about 40,000 euros to the Vienna airport and 60 000 euros to the Frankfurt International Airport. In addition, the company does not pay salaries to its pilots since November 2010. In order to continue its activities companies need to quickly find about 2 million euros.

In this case, according to the Dan newspaper, even this amount may not be enough to restore effective operation of the airline. The current season in Montenegro was announced as budget by the Montenegro Airlines. Reduced prices for services will likely not allow the company to provide the desired level of profitability.
It is also noted that Montenegro Airlines has not received public assistance for the last 4 years.

This summer many of the Montenegro Airlines flights will be greatly reduced. For example, flights for the most popular direction of the company - Belgrade - will be performed less frequently. At the same time, Montenegro Airlines plans to open two new destinations for the upcoming summer season - Milan and Brussels.

Ilya Kalachev

Date: 30/03/2011