Ukraine’s Windrose Airlines will add its fourth destination in the former Yugoslavia by introducing flights between Kiev and Podgorica. Services between the Ukrainian and Montenegrin capitals are set to commence on December 1 and run twice per week, each Tuesday and Saturday. Flights will be operated by a mix of ATR72-600 and Embraer E145 aircraft, which have the capacity to seat 78 and 49 passengers respectively. Ticket sales have been launched via the airline's website. Windrose faces no competition on the route. Last year, Ukrainian low cost carrier SkyUp planned to launch services to Podgorica, however, the flights never materialised.
The development comes just weeks after Windrose Airlines scheduled services to Skopje and Belgrade, which will also launch during the first week of December. Furthermore, the carrier will increase frequencies on its recently launched flights between Kiev and Zagreb by adding an additional weekly rotation for a total of three. The extra service will commence on December 4. On the other hand, planned operations to Ljubljana have been put on hold due to entry restrictions. In addition to the nonstop Kiev service, Windrose offers transfer options with short connections from Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odessa.
Windrose will become the second new arrival this winter season at Podgorica Airport. It will also welcome seasonal winter flights from Luxembourg, operated by Luxair, which commence on December 18. The flights will operate to Tivat over the summer. Other carriers maintaining services to the Montenegrin capital this winter include Air Serbia, Austrian, Montenegro Airlines, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines and Wizz Air, although the latter will have no flights to Podgorica until mid-December.
Further details for the new Kiev - Podgorica service can be found here.
I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteBad news for OS-YM and TK as they were the fastest way between Montenegro and Ukraine. This is a big market so it's always good to see more players enter the game.
ReplyDeleteWasn't it fastest via BEG with JU?
DeleteJU no longer serves KBP so transfers via BEG were no longer possible. Once they do come back it will be the best and fastest connection.
DeleteWindrose should codeshare with Air Serbia on Kyiv - Belgrade
DeleteBut JU does not fly the route and it's questionable if they will resume it. More sense if JU codeshared on the Windrose flight.
DeleteMy friend, I think that's what he meant.
DeleteYes, now when I read more carefully it seems he did. My bad
DeleteThey are really focusing on ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope they are successful.
DeleteWould this expansion have come about without Covid?
ReplyDeleteZAG and LJU were planned before Covid (and delayed because of it). As for the rest, not sure.
DeleteI'm not so confident half of these new Windrose routes will actually launch.
ReplyDeleteMe neither especially since the airline is owned by a very shady group of people.
DeleteMontenegro keeps winning!
ReplyDeleteActually passenger numbers in Montenegro have declined by a huge margin, well above the European average. It's one of the most impacted countries.
DeleteGov's decision to ban Serbian passport holder has contributed to that.
DeleteSafety first!
DeleteActually it is an interesting approach .
ReplyDeleteEvery new destination has the same chance by frequency and thus the customers decide which route will get upgraded or canceled .
Much like an election .
the only strange thing to me is why they waited so long.
ReplyDeleteEx-Yu is a very affordable holiday destination for Ukrainians, plus parts of it is cyrillic and orhodox which should suit them well
hope Corona doesnt effect all these flights.
(same should be said for Belarus)
Belarus is an interesting case as Belavia only manages to operate into BEG year-round (today with B733). I think much more can be done to promote these markets. I remember when B2 launched BEG Serbian statistics institution started mentioning them for the first time ever. I think air-links are a necessary first step before tourists start coming in.
DeleteLet's see what Windrose does with these markets and to what extent they will be successful.
totally agree for Belarus. SRB, MK and MNE are the only visa-free countries in Europe for them (Turkey and CIS not incl.)
DeleteSerbs could also enter Belarus without PCR thought I think Belarus changed that now.
DeleteAnyone could...
DeleteB2 is fantastic, used them a few times before covid for Moscow flights. MSQ on the other hand is the very definition of hell on earth, literally nothing to do while you are in transit.
DeleteB2 is much relliying on trasfers. After cancellation of all flights between Ukrain and Russia, they took a majority of market. As far i know they were usualy operating 6 daily to Kyiv and 11 weakly to Moscow (all airports in Kiev and all in Moscow except Vnukovo).
DeleteDon't forget that thanks to the customs union, once you land into Russia from Minsk it's treated like a domestic flight so no customs procedures
Delete"plus parts of it is cyrillic and orhodox which should suit them well"
DeleteImagine choosing a holiday destination by religion and/or script!
All of Ukraine is Cyrillic and 90% is Orthodox what is statistically more than Serbia.
DeleteVlad, what are you going about? Why do you think so many people go to the Vatican, Mecca, Jerusalem... religious and cultural tourism is massive. It's only a small part of the society which wants to believe it's not. Also script similarities play a big role as people like things that are not totally unknown to them. So similar language, customs, religion, culture... plays a massive role.
DeleteSorry.
nobody chooses it but it adds a lot to it. How happy are you when u understand half of Czech or Russian language and can order a pivo or something else without having to speak english
DeleteI couldn't care less and I certainly don't decide on where I want to go based on whether I can understand some words because they are simmilar to my langugage.
DeleteWell, not everyone is like you.
DeleteIf that is your rationale for travel, you won't be travelling much.
DeletePeople go in Mecca and Jerysalem because these places are important for their religion. They do not go there because there people use same alphabet or similar language.
DeleteNo, they go there because culture is similar. People go where it's familiar to them. How many Serbs go to Greece because that's a friendly country with which we share many cultural similarities? Like it or not, culture does play a big role in shaping people's perceptions.
DeleteWe go there because it's cheap and accessible by car.
DeleteSo Serbs prefer to go to Belarus, Ukraine, Russia more then to Greece, Italy, France and Germany because of similar language and alphabet? And people from Arabia are going to Mecca just because of cultular similarities while they dont care so much about religious importance of the place?
DeleteWin...
ReplyDeletedrose is coming !
I see what you did there :D
DeleteGood aircraft type for this kind of route.
ReplyDeleteYes, it has the greatest chance of working.
DeleteInteresting so many people were critical of JU sending ATR to Kiev but to SKP/TGD it's normal.
DeleteWindrose is sending ATR to all ex-Yu destinations - Zagreb and Belgrade incldued.
DeleteNow they just have to launch Sarajevo :D
ReplyDeleteNext week they will probably announce it haha
DeleteAs someone from Sarajevo, we always seem to miss out.
DeleteI hope they actually will launch these routes and this is not just a way of generating cashflow.
ReplyDeleteWell they launched ZAG so that is a good sign.
DeleteMontenegro is a popular destination for Ukrainians during the summer, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteYeah, but not in winter.
DeleteObviously the airline is looking to fly to places where there are few entry restrictions.
DeleteYM is also launching Kiev this winter
ReplyDeleteThey said they were considering it but I don't think they will.
DeleteTGD confirmed it so I guess they are going ahead with it. Once a week on Saturdays.
DeleteHow pointless to have two airlines flying on this route.
DeleteWhat's more astounding is how little connections between Ex-Yu and Ukraine there was.
ReplyDeleteYes, quite interesting. Don't understand why.
DeleteVery good news.
ReplyDelete