New flights and new rules in Montenegro

The Montenegrin government has passed a new law regarding air transportation within the country. This is the first time laws have been changed since the 90’s following the collapse of Yugoslavia. It outlines that every low cost airline which requests slots at Montenegrin airports will gain licenses if they have all necessary security certificates. This is to respond to growing criticism that Montenegro’s government has not been allowing low cost airlines to commence services in order to protect the national airline. However the minister of transportation Andrija Lompar states that low cost airlines are now analysing the Montenegrin market and are making their decisions at a very slow pace. Currently there are no scheduled destinations by low cost airline to Montenegro’s two international airports Tivat and Podgorica.

Meanwhile Montenegro Airlines has started services to Milan, Italy. Flights began on Sunday and the flight occupancy for the two operated flights stands at 47%. Montenegro Airline CEO expects that the occupancy will reach 70 to 75% within the next month. Montenegro Airlines expect that 45% of passengers will be tourists, 15 to 20% transit passengers and business passengers should make up for 3 to 5%. The lowest ticket price for flights between Tivat and Milan is 89 Euros which does not include taxes which are 114 Euros. Flights between Tivat and Milan operate every Thursday and Sunday and from October 26, when the winter timetable starts, the flights will be modified so they depart from Podgorica instead of Tivat.