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| Wizz Air eyes flights from Germany and Poland to Podgorica |
Low cost airline Wizz Air is close to finalising an agreement with the Montenegrin government to launch flights to Podgorica next summer season, which would make the city its seventh destination in the former Yugoslavia. Predrag Jelušić, the Montenegrin State Secretary for Tourism, says, “I believe we are very close to reaching a deal with Wizz Air to launch flights from Montenegro to Germany and Poland”. Mr. Jelušić adds that an agreement is likely to be finalised early next year. Only last month, the Hungarian Ambassador to Montenegro, Krisztian Posa, confirmed that the budget carrier was interested in launching flights to Podgorica from several European cities.
The State Secretary also confirmed that all low cost airlines flying to Montenegro receive subsidies. “Every low cost and charter airline is granted subsidies for each tourist they bring to our country. So far, the Ministry for Tourism and the National Tourism Organisation have paid for these expenses, however, the government is now looking to set up a special fund”, Mr. Jelušić explains. He adds, “We believe each airline should be subsidised, including Montenegro Airlines, which also brings tourists to our country. Each airline receives between six and ten euros per passenger”. The State Secretary believes that companies flying to Montenegro throughout the slow winter season should be granted additional benefits.
Montenegro Airlines has lobbied strongly against budget carriers and Wizz Air’s arrival would put further pressure on the airline. Europe’s largest low cost carrier, Ryanair, already operates year-long flights from London Stansted Airport to the Montenegrin capital, as well as a seasonal service from Charleroi. It has committed to further expanding its destination network from Podgorica as well as Tivat in the coming years. Wizz Air will be introducing a range of new flights from the former Yugoslavia next year, including services from Tuzla to Sandefjord, Memmingen, Stockholm Skavsta and Frankfurt Hahn, as well as flights from Basel to Niš. The no frills airline is also believed to be contesting an international tender for subsidies from the Macedonian government in order to launch additional flights from Skopje next summer.
Good news for Podgorica but why from Poland. Instead they should launch flight to Scandinavia or Paris-Beauvais.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Poland would be seasonal?
DeleteFrom what I understood all flights will be seasonal, during the summer months. Same scenario as with Ryanair.
DeletePoland makes sense as they will bring tourists into the country.
It will be interesting to see which destination(s) they chose in Germany. If they go for Memmingen then YM has nothing to worry about.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if they go for Hahn, Weeze or Dortmund then it might impact YM's loads to Frankfurt or Dusseldorf.
What's good is that they are planning on flying to Podgorica instead of Tivat. As it was discussed the other day, TIV is hectic in summer and in need of a long-term solution.
Who knows... maybe they went for Podgorica as it's easier to attract passengers from northern Albania. After all, they could rely on them to fill those seats to Germany.
Nemjee you're more than right regarding flights to TGD. Everyone was surprised when FR picked TGD over other destinations (or TIV at least) and on top of it they went all year around which not only everyone thought was brave but a bit silly too. However, they targeted three groups of passengers: people who simply go to Podgorica, then people who head to the coast (some people use it as an alternative when tickets to DBV go ridiculously high during summer and the last, but definitely not the least is a huge percentage of passengers all year around are Albanian diaspora in London (which is huge) who travel to north and northwest of Albania. several times has been witnessed that a very good LF was 60-70% passengers from Northern Albania.
DeleteThanks for the reply. I guess with Belle Air gone flights from Podgorica might become even more attractive for Albanian passengers, especially since airlines get subsidies.
DeleteMy comment on the FRA route:
DeleteI doubt it would impact YMs loads from FRA even if Wizz flies from/to Hahn. Hahn is really in the middle of nowhere and I wonder why it is even called Frankfurt-Hahn when it has absolutely nothing to do with Frankfurt. (100+km away from Frankfurt & not even in Hesse). My point: I doubt anybody would bother to travel 100 + km to save some 100 euros. For people living in Germany this is definitely not worth it. Moreover if u add fuel costs to Hahn or the bus ticket to there.. the price difference is not that big after all.
Of course, I agree with you but there are two things we need to consider at this point:
Delete1. what's the structure of YM's passengers on the FRA route.
2. What is the point of the Hahn route.
If YM's route to Frankfurt primarily relies on transfer passengers than any potential lowcost flight from Hahn should have no effect on them. If YM is after the O&D market then things might get slightly more complicated. First of all, Hahn is nowhere as expensive as Frankfurt which might put YM at a slightly more disadvantageous position. There is also a bus that runs between Hahn and Frankfurt and a return ticket is not that expensive, 28 Euros.
There are a lot of people who would ride the bus for 1 hour and 45 minutes just to save 100 Euros... at times even less. If there weren't any, or that many, then the whole concept of flying from tertiary airports would not be as successful as it is today.
Like I said, it will be interesting to see what German route they go for. However, Montenegrins are, just like the rest of YU, price sensitive and we both know Wizz Air can deliver.
Can someone explain to me what is the point of having two nearby airports in Montenegro? Thank you!
Delete@AnonymousDecember 27, 2014 at 7:54 PM
DeleteIn Yugo times, things were built according to favors of local politicians and not really for needs of the region, Podgorica airport could have easily been used for any tourist travel, its only 60km from tivat and airport covers most important tourist destinations in Montenegro.
Corruption, nepotism and stupidity. Also Rijeka and Pula airports, including losinj airport should have been built on one location, between Pula and Rijeka on location not far from Labin, this way airport would act as a regional airport for whole of Istria and Kvarner region and have constant traffic throughout the year..
Airport management(TGD management who rules both airports) did not want to FR flies to Tivat, only Podgorica. Ryanair is trying to get permission for Tivat, but it was unsuccessfully.
DeleteWizz has already slots for London Luton - Podgorica
ReplyDeleteJust like with the RyanAir deal. 'We are very close.... Oh nevermind, we pissed off the airline'
ReplyDeleteMajor snowstorm across central Europe, major delays from Germany, FRA flights particularly affected...
ReplyDeleteFrankfurt 12:30 17:00 Airbus A320-200 sharklets Слетео у 17:09
Frankfurt 13:05 13:05 Boeing 737-300 Касни
Is this a taste what's coming our way tomorrow?
Seems so. I just saw on FR24 UIA 737 with winglets flying to Tehran (4h30) and was wondering what would be the benefits for Air Serbia to fit the remaining 737 with winglets: how expensive would it be and would Jat Tehnika be able to do the job? Here's the pic, it's the first time i see a classic with winglets:
Deletehttp://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/6/6/9/2562966.jpg
The list of only airlines that upgraded those:
Deletehttp://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/3971152/#10
Ne isplati se ASL da montira SL a kamoli split scimitar . A na Airbuseve nemogu vise SL da se montiraju kako ja znam posto najstarji Airbus ima 4 godine sto ih ima.
DeleteINN-NS
OT: There are speculations that BEG might have to close in 2015 due to urgent runway repairs such as those seen in Dubai last year. Any info on that and what would happen in that case? Will Batajnica be used as an alternative airport?
ReplyDeleteThat was not even mentioned in todays interview with BEG management! Renovation list keeps changing with every interview, this is what is currently on the To Do list:
Delete"Proširenje novog terminala sa četiri gejta i dva nova avio-mosta, nova platforma za odleđivanje aviona, rekonstrukcija i adaptacija starog terminala i veznog dela najvažniji su projekti za 2015."
If I am reading this right, it looks like A gates will not be renovated (?) but C7 and C8 bridges will be added and 2 more bus gates. T1 will be "renovated and adapted". Isn't it better to tear down T1 and old A gates and in that place build a new, modern terminal? I suggested that weeks ago on this site. But then again we saw plans change frequently, so this might not be final plan...
From: http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/ekonomija/aktuelno.239.html:526323-Sasa-Vlaisavljevic-U-terminale-ulazemo-20-miliona-evra
if it would close, how long does it take to repair the runway? Even if it is 2 weeks, it is not possible for Nis nor Batajnica to handle 20 ASL aircraft plus Wizz, plus all the foreign companies.
DeleteClose it in February, not in August!
DeleteThey are not closing the airport. This conclusion that they are closing the airport came about when a Belgrade Airport facebook fan page (and no it's not the official one) put up a status "the airport is being closed everything will be redirected to INI". It was referring to the fact that many people at BEG airport are about to get layed off so it's some kind of a protest note.
DeleteCurrent two terminals at Belgrade can handle 9 million, really there is no need for new terminal, only refurbish the interior and make it more functional.
DeleteTerminal as it is, is very cramped due to poor layout and poor use of space.
15 passenger boarding bridges equates around 8 million pax, at 90% capacity. Airport should be able to handle anything up to 9 million relatively easy, adding 2 more passenger boarding bridges will increase the capacity to 10 million, number Belgrade won't reach any time soon.
3rd terminal can be built next to c gates,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Belgrade-airport.jpg
I'd also knock down smaller terminal terminal 2, and expand terminal 1 to encompass whole section of terminal 2, with brand new terminal built alongside c-gates, 2nd runway can also be added, 650m long with around 14 additional passenger boarding bridges and 8 million capacity.
Giving total capacity of future expanded airport of around 18-20 million, something Belgrade won't reach before 2040.
anyhow my quick photoshop rendering, took me only 10 min, as i was typing this reply., so plz no art critics.
http://postimg.org/image/5wmwe716r/full/
ОТ:
ReplyDeleteWizz Air - June 2015 from SKP to
2x Hamburg
2x Nuremberg
2x Oslo
2x Barcelona
and from Ohrid to 2x Basel
seems to be exciting summer !!!!
http://kurir.mk/makedonija/vesti/183997-Sest-novi-destinacii-Makedonija-se-povrzuva-so-evropskite-metropoli
Delete1000 times better than having an national airline. Bravo!!!!
DeleteAnd with this the passenger growth would be much higher than expected.
Deleteand +1 more for now unknown name destination ! :) waithing for more news a monday
Delete*so totaly 6 destination - 5 for SKP and 1 for OHD
The 5th destination is Friedrichshafen in Germany between Zurich and Memmingen !
DeleteSkopje may soon overtake Ljubljana.
DeleteAleksandar Stojanovic
...and Zagreb.
DeleteJust sky is a limit :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNews from well-informed sources in Montenegro say that the negotiations with easyJet about flights from UK to Tivat is underway. The reason is the large number of Englishmen who live and work in Tivat, more precisely in Porto Montenegro.
ReplyDelete