Montenegro crisis continues

Montenegro Airlines owes millions to home base

Milovan Djuričković, the CEO of “Airports of Montenegro”, the public company running both Podgorica and Tivat airports has revealed that the national carrier, Montenegro Airlines, owes over 4.5 million Euros to the airports for the year 2010 alone. “Montenegro Airlines is the biggest debtor to Airports of Montenegro and, unfortunately, as this year progresses, the situation is getting worse. I hope that the company, and those that run it, will have the strength to find a way out of their problems, which would, in turn, allow our company to carry out our business plans”, Djuričković told the “Dan” newspaper.

Montenegro Airlines was forced to suspend services to Priština and Skopje due to mounting debt last month. Furthermore, the airline owes 40.000 Euros to Vienna Airport and a further 60.000 to Frankfurt International Airport. Montenegro Airlines has also failed to pay its pilots since November, while the airline is in urgent need of 2 million Euros to continue operating, the “Dan” reports. The airline’s CEO has warned that the announced low cost seasonal services to Montenegro will have a further negative impact on the carrier and adds that the airline hasn’t received state subsidies for the past 4 years.

This summer, Montenegro Airlines cut frequencies to many of its key destinations, in particular Belgrade, compared to last year. However, the airline does plan to introduce flights to Brussels and Milan. Despite using more modern equipment, the airline has lost many of its passengers on the Montenegro – Belgrade services to rival Jat, while suspensions to Skopje and Priština have seen the airline loose a significant share of transit passengers.