Montenegro Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Predrag Marković, has resigned from his post in protest over a recent wide-ranging codeshare agreement signed with Air Serbia, which he fears will result in the carrier becoming a feeder to its Serbian counterpart. Speaking to the “Vijesti” daily, Mr Marković said, “Among other things, I resigned as a result of the Air Serbia agreement. In that particular case, I believe Montenegro Airlines’ interests have not been properly protected, seeing as we have a leading position on the market compared to our competitor, with a tendency for future growth". He added, “Personally, I hope I am wrong and that the company benefits from this arrangement. Time will tell. In any case, I wish the airline all the best in the future”. Mr Marković, who is also the son of the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro, Duško Marković, leaves the company after seven years.
The closer ties between Montenegro Airlines and Air Serbia will also see a change in departure times on flights between Podgorica and Belgrade, according to “Vijesti”. Citing company sources, the newspaper notes that it has been proposed for Montenegro Airlines to operate three daily flights between the two capital cities during the winter season, with departure times from Podgorica at 05.05, 10.00 and 21.50. As a result, the last departure from Belgrade to Podgorica will operate at 01.00 in the morning. The proposal has caused unease among some at Montenegro Airlines who believe the slots are highly unfavorable and will impact on the airline’s passenger numbers. On the other hand, Air Serbia's slots and frequencies will remain unchanged, according to the daily, and the more favorable flight times will likely result in a 50% passenger increase on the route. Serbia is Montenegro Airlines’ biggest market. The carrier handled 114.953 passengers between Podgorica, Tivat and Belgrade during the first half of the year.
In August, Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines established closer ties by inking a code share arrangement, marking the first major development since the latter concluded a commercial strategic partnership deal with Etihad Airways last year. Following a decision made by Montenegro Airlines' Board of Directors to commence cooperation with its Serbian counterpart, the two sides agreed for the Montenegrin carrier to codeshare on Air Serbia's flights from Belgrade to 32 destinations, among which is New York. In return, Air Serbia will codeshare on Montenegro Airlines' flights from Belgrade to Podgorica and Tivat, as well as from Podgorica to Rome. The deal will come into effect on October 1. The President of the Montenegro Airlines Board of Directors, Daliborka Pejović, described the deal with Air Serbia as "an exceptional opportunity for helping us find a future strategic partner". She added, "We believe that signing the codeshare agreement with Air Serbia is an extraordinary opportunity for the future of Montenegro Airlines. In doing so, we have opened the door of our national airline to enter Etihad Airways Partners, with airlines such as Alitalia and Air Berlin".
When you are a small company and sign a code share agreement on 30+ routes what do you expect other than to feed those destinations. The proposed flights time from Podgorica make complete sense. They feed into Air Serbia's morning, afternoon and evening wave. I think the 5AM departure is quite good for P2P passengers too, which Markovic thinks they will lose. It gives people from both Montenegro and Serbia (on the return flight) a chance to go to Podgorica/Belgrade for business or one day and return in the evening.
ReplyDeleteCan you please elaborate how 5am departure can be good for p2p?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIf you need to do business and need to be in Belgrade early it's a good time rather than have to take a flight the night before.
DeleteSo you have to wake up at 3.30am and reach Beg at 5.40am? I guess you will be well rested for your meetings :)
DeleteBut then you have a perfect time on return flight for p2p going from BEG to TGD. ;) In addition to that, the travelers to West Europe fit perfectly to ASL morning wave.
DeleteNow this is getting interesting :D
ReplyDeleteWhen he talks about MGX being the dominant airline is he referring to Serbia-Montenegro flights or in general?
ReplyDelete"...seeing as we have a leading position on the market compared to our competitor, with a tendency for future growth"
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any data regarding this?
I think they still had more passengers on Serbia - Montenegro flights last year than JU. Not sure about this year though.
Delete"Mr Marković, who is also the son of the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro, Duško Marković", hahah oh dear. I bet he is leaving because he will be given an even better post. He is very young.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAs a feeder they might even handle more passengers.
ReplyDeleteKoje licemerje jednog coveka. Svi mi znamo ko si ti i zasto odlazis.
ReplyDeleteSta bi Srbija bez Monte Negra. Koliko se trudila da ostanu u jednoj drzavi. Eto ni sa kod serom se ne slazu. Pa kako misle ovi u Er Srbiji da opstanu. Dali bi se moglo sta korino uciti od eksperata iz Monte Negra, izuzev revolta zbog ser koda?. Jos jedno ''veselje'' medju ''dva oka u glavi''. "srbijanci'' tradicionalno ''coravi''. Pravednije bi bilo da sam slep i ne shvatam politiku. O aferama u avijaciji ovde sam ne kopetentan bez znanja. Za Markovice & Co. Who care!? I don't. For good. Toliko.
DeleteRadovan na liniji Kraljevo✈Sydney.
Za tvoj info u Montenegru se zivi 3 puta bolje
Delete@10:57 AM...čika Raša govori o "Montengru" kompaniji.. A što se tiče boljeg života, potpuno se slažem, naravno, ako ste sa prave strane raspodele novca i moći..
DeleteDear Anon 10:55.
DeleteBest wishes to all. Neo and for ever. Enjoy, and yours flags up. Don't worry. Be happy.
Rodney & Son+✈
3x bolje? lmao :)))
DeleteHas the air fare between Belgrade and Podgorica changed after the codeshare?
ReplyDelete10 euros more, at the moment.
Delete@ Milivoje thanks. What's your take on this deal? Following your comments I gather you are from Montenegro
DeleteYes, i'm from Montenegro and first at all i think MGX has better planes for this routes but ASL has better crew :)
DeleteFor transit passengers i think this deal is good as few times when i get back from Prague, Milano or Amsterdam i had night layover cause flights arrived to belgrade after 8PM. But on other hand i'm affraid that this monopoly would back price to 130euros which was the price 4/5 years ago, where i think reasonable price for these flights would be 79EUR - round trip. But i guess that never would happend until someone else enter in market.
Since, that there are elections this October in Montenegro i guess this resign is also some political decision.
Anyway, i see the final results will be that both companies change a bit timetables, not just MGX, so that no one thinks that is cheated on this codeshare deal.
For ASL i'm wondering why they dont have codeshare with RO on flights between OTP and CLJ IAS KIV
They do codeshare to KIV
DeleteNot bad news at all. He is doing a favor to Serbia and her poor taxpayers and let me elaborate on that:
ReplyDeleteHopefully his protest will spread further and the government will order the airline to withdraw from the CS agreement and quit any cooperation with Air Serbia. This way the danger of Air Serbia entering the unnecessary acquisition of this troubled family business will disappear and the market will be there to enter the moment YM is grounded once and for all.
How true are the rumors that Air Serbia will take a Montenegro Embraer this winter? With it they could maintain all those seasonal routes, say Kiev, St Petersburg...
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could work that one out if we knew the return times of MGX flights from Belgrade and whether there is enough time for them to do another leg. I doubt they will give over aircraft but maybe they operate a few flights on Air Serbia's behalf.
DeleteEtihad/Air Serbia are going to buy MGX no doubt about it.
ReplyDeleteFinally! JU/YM will coordinate their flight times better so most of their flights don't depart within 5 minutes of each other like it is the case now.
ReplyDeleteEtihad must be complete idiots if they take another troubled airline in their portfolio.
ReplyDelete+1 It's a mini Air Berlin with massive political inteference.
DeleteHow are they idiot?
DeleteLet them turnaround at least one company in their portfolio and make it profitable and then I'll change my mind about them. What I see so far is failure everywhere. They only demand for subsidies.
DeleteWhat makes you think their goal is to make their subsidiaries profitable? Their goal is to bring more passengers to AUH and increase their own revenues. If the subsidiaries can be turned around, great. If not, they can and will be divested.
DeleteSubsidies are natural thing to ask when you have to make sinking ships stay afloat. It will not happen by a magic wand but cash, incentives and dramatic reduction of costs.
@ 10:01 Am
DeleteProfit imaju 9W , HG , HM i JU su profitabili tako da ne znam sto vredjate ljude.
INN-NS
JU profitabilna? Da, posle subvencij
DeleteDa naravno to je dokazao KPMG i oxford economics sto mislim da je dovoljan dokaz .
DeleteA izgleda ne znate da nema subvencija.
INN-NS
Oxford Economics je privatna institucija koja nema ništa sa istoimenim univerzitetom osim što nose ime istog mesta. Platite i oni vam naprave izveštaj koji vam odgovara. KPMG je sa druge strane ozbiljna firma sa renomeom.
DeleteNi KPMG ni Oxford Economics nisu napisali da JU ne prima subvencije, niti su igdje napisali da bi i bez subvencija bili profiabilni. KPMG ja samo potvrdio da su prihodi toliki (uključujuči i subvenciju), te da je kompanija sa tim subvencijama u plusu.
DeleteHM prima subvenicije lokalne vlasti
DeleteJU je primila 158 miliona subvencija u dvije i pola godine
HG nije profitabilna - to je laž
9W je iskazala gubitak u prošloj financijskoj godini od 316 milijuna USD, tek je u drugom kvartalu ove godina iskazala maleni dobitak, što ne znači da će ukupan godišnji promet biti pozitivan.
Speaking of Montenegro Airlines, their head office has been taken over by Milo's brother who owns the bank that gave them a loan.
ReplyDeleteSound like a mob movie lol
Deleteno, it's everyday thing in Montenegro. or should I say Miloland
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteToday Ryan have inaugurated their base in Sofia. 3 a/c have been based there. Each a/c is making 4 rotations daily. The destinations are 21.
Good to hear,thanks bratko.
DeleteAt least somebody is developing his airport
DeleteWell it's probably this or for them to close down. At least this way they will preserve some jobs.
ReplyDeleteThey should have gone for Adria instead in my oppinion. It has more potential.
ReplyDeleteMontenegro also has potential if they manage to get rid of all other political appointees, like Mr. Markovic, and replace them with professionals. Without it, they should not enter there.
DeleteI assume if Air Serbia buys them most departments would be handled by Air Serbia and based in Belgrade. They are now coordinating their schedule with Air Serbia on flights between Podgorica/Tivat and Belgrade as I predicted.
ReplyDeleteAnd what are Air Serbia's plans for the winter?
ReplyDeleteYes, what is happening with Adria CRJ which is with Air Serbia now? When is it returning?
Delete01.10.2016.
DeleteI saw that MXP wont be every day (no saturday for sure).
DeleteTotal capitulation by Montenegro Airlines.
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteBetter capitulation and survival than death and nonexistence.
DeleteBetter for whom?
DeleteTotal capitulation ? What parallel universe do you live in ? They are EUR70m in accumulated debt; lost EUR10m last year; have just lost their HQ and land.....
DeleteErrr, they should be thanking their lucky stars that someone has given them a lifeline ....
Have no idea why though....
Anon 14.51. What a silly question. For the one facing almost certain death and nonexistence! Certainly not for Air Serbia, which could better sit and watch its main competitor on that market die. I see your comment as "tvrđenje pazara" and "prenemaganje".
DeleteIMHO this should have been flash news today.
ReplyDeleteI don't. Apart from the fact that people in the company are not happy about this we are now also getting an idea what sort of 'partnership' this will be.
DeleteAn idea from whom? All you get here is speculation, and random opinions.
DeleteAn idea from whom? All you get here is speculation, and random opinions.
ReplyDeleteAn idea from today's news! Judging by the outbound flight times this has potential to be catastrophic for MGX. While there might be partial improvements for transit passengers, they could easily lose the biggest chunk of O&D which will most likely hurt more than what they can gain - unless they kinda agreed on pricing strategy so as to use their duopoly the most they can and increase fares massively. Next to none with final destination BEG will want to leave from BEG at 5 am or return after midnight - that goes without saying. People will largely switch to ASL who will also be able to offer more expensive fares at reasonable flight times.
Delete* will want to leave from TGD I meant
DeleteAnon at 8.46pm ... why are you so obtuse ? Don't you understand that YM will be codesharing on JU flights, which means that they can sell a far greater number of seats than they can on their own network ?
DeleteThey will also be able to increase their number of pax from what they currently have, because they will be able to sell/market their own flight number on JU flights between MNE and SRB.
This deal has far more upside for YM than it does for JU. YM has another 32 flights on which they can sell their code, while JU has what, a couple of extra flights to MNE ??
Dumb move by JU is ever i saw one .... Infact, probably the dumbest move they have made these past 3 yrs. They should've waited for YM to collapse and then move into MNE without all the dead weight they will now have to carry and deal with
The profit from code share will be marginal at best. When it comes to their YM own flights they will lose out on revenue and profit big time.
DeleteU slucaju da se desi preuzimanje ASL bi trebala da uvede cenu od 120 € za Regionalne Letove na koji ma se preseda i tako bi ostvari znacajan plus u Regionu .
ReplyDeleteI takodje treba uvesti KWI i IKA .
INN-NS
Fiksni pricing? Zanimljivo rjesenje, nema sto...
DeleteZa let od 35 do 50minuta..malo bi to bilo preskupo.
DeleteZbog ovakvih stvari se zalazem za ulazak svih zemalja regiona u EU.. i onda kad se pojavi za 9.99 do beograda, kao sto se desilo slusaj u rumuniji sa wizzair/blueair/ryanair sa domestic letova, onda ce odjednom okej biti i MGX i ASL da lete 20eur po pravcu.
I would like to see daily 'unity' flights between:
ReplyDeleteTGD-INI
BNX-INI
BNX-TGD
INI-BEG
who would travel daily between
ReplyDeleteTGD-INI
BNX-INI
BNX-TGD
people, mail, goods.
DeleteTGD-INI used to have horrible loads. That route was shut the first minute the subsidies from Nis ended. Cargo and mail would of been next to non existant, otherwise if YM was making money from the flights they would never have ended.
DeleteThe rest is not even worth talking about. Even BEG-BNX doesnt fill on an ATR which is a cheap aircraft to run on the route, and the decent connections it has via BEG.
Off topic - plane crash on landing in SKP, model is paper, 6 casualties reported. The plane was flying along with 2 other planes, they landed successfully but not the last one which crashed on approach.
ReplyDeleteLETS TAV ANSWER WHO APPROVED LANDING TO THIS SMALL AIRCRAFT ON SUCH A BAD WEATHER, AND THEY PAID NO ATTENTION DURING THE APPROACH IT WAS WRONG. FLIGHTRADAR WILL REVELAL THE PLANE REG IS D-GLLW
DeleteIts unbelievably how many flights are between Moscow and Tivat + flights to Belgrade
ReplyDeletehttps://s14.postimg.io/jcnft6y2p/Screen_Shot_2016_09_06_at_8_19_30_PM.png
This person is waiter .He finished his school in private faculty ( Greece , Corfu ) in the building which has 3 sleeping rooms and 3 kitchen..but father is father and unfortunately Montenegro Airlines is since 2013 political company which will bankrupt soon
ReplyDelete