Ryanair will turn three year-round routes from Podgorica into summer seasonal, resulting in the low cost carrier maintaining a single destination out of the Montenegrin capital this upcoming winter season, which begins on October 27 and runs until March 30 of next year. It follows on from last winter when three routes were also downgraded to summer seasonal. The airline does not plan to operate services from Berlin, Krakow, and Gdansk past this winter. They join Charleroi, Zagreb, and Manchester which were downgraded to summer seasonal last year. As a result, Ryanair will only run a four weekly rotation between London Stansted and Podgorica during the 2024/25 winter season.
The newly appointed CEO of operator Airports of Montenegro, Roko Tolić, has acknowledged the issue and plans to persuade Ryanair to reconsider their decision. He will soon meet with the airline's management in Dublin. “We hope for positive developments, but more will be known in October. Our discussions aim to halt this trend and foster a stronger relationship moving forward,” he said. He added, "I don't have a magic wand; changes won't happen overnight. However, we are working diligently every day to better prepare for the upcoming season. We offer airlines million-dollar discounts each year."
Ryanair has been Montenegro’s busiest low cost carrier for several years, handling over 200.000 passengers annually. However, its figures have been declining since 2022. This coming winter, Ryanair has 39.820 seats on sale to and from Podgorica, down 50.9% on the 2023/24 winter season and a reduction of 66.1% on the 2022/23 winter. In total, Ryanair has scrapped 41.312 seats from the market this upcoming winter compared to last. Ryanair previously said that Podgorica Airport’s charges are unsustainable. “Podgorica Airport is completely uncompetitive compared to other European airports which reduce their fees to stimulate recovery and traffic growth. This has a detrimental impact on Montenegro’s connectivity, tourism, and the economy”, Ryanair said.
That's the gamble with Ryanair. One day you have 8 routes, the other you have 1.
ReplyDeleteWe have already had such examples in the region like with Wizz Air packing up and leaving Sarajevo and Tuzla.
DeleteNot good
ReplyDeleteIt will definitely impact winter passenger performance at TGD.
DeleteKrakow and Gdansk were mostly for Polish tourists but Berlin really is a loss.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they will restore them next summer.
DeleteThey will, like they did ZAG, MAN and CRL this summer.
DeleteHope so
Delete"Krakow and Gdansk were mostly for Polish tourists but Berlin really is a loss"
DeleteThey're all for (budget) tourists....
Hope they manage to work out some solution.
ReplyDeleteThe only way they can do that is if they give Ryanair money or further reduce their fees.
DeleteAnd the municipality within which is Podgorica Airport is charging taxes for each arriving and departing plane
Delete^ Now that's nuts
DeleteLet’s collect money while doing absolutely nothing for it
Delete"Noise tax", they get paid for having to endure being in an area with a lot of noise pollution
DeleteYeah, traffic over Podgorica is crazy. Especially when that last flight departs at 10pm and the airport shuts its doors.
DeleteIt's not going to be a good winter for TGD unfortunately
ReplyDeleteGood new for Air Montenegro.
ReplyDelete^news
DeleteYes, 4O flies to Gdansk, Krakow and Berlin...
DeleteThey could and they should
DeleteI'm surprised that Ryanair has year round flights to Poland from Podgorica. How come?
ReplyDeleteDiaspora
DeleteThat makes no sense.
Delete😅😅
DeleteOdlične vesti za ErSrbiju.
ReplyDeleteDisappointing
ReplyDeleteThose taxes in Podgorica are actually really low.
ReplyDeleteHow much are they?
Delete15€ per departing passenger. Actually, it is very high for such airport.
DeleteJust shows how an airport should not rely on airlines such as Ryanair.
ReplyDeleteYet they are Europe's biggest airline.
DeleteWhich is exactly why they'll always have it their way. Small airports have no say in that relationship as all power is in Ryanair's hands. When cutting flights Ryanair will always find a way to utilize those planes, while small airports are left crippled by it and with no real options
Delete@9:20
DeleteSuch an unnecessarily contrarian response, no one said they should kick out Ryanair or something rather pointing out the by now obvious. Small airports dependant heavily on the likes of Ryanair or Wizz run the risk of losing traffic when the LCCs decide to switch priorities or extort extra money in order to stay
Ok, now that TGD is no longer relying on Ryanair it can be very happy this winter! Yay!
DeleteIs it because they will be focusing more on Sarajevo now?
ReplyDeleteMore like Tirana.
DeleteUnlikely to be due to Tirana. Ryanair will invest where they can make money such as in Italy, Spain, Portugal. MNE is a small market for them.
DeleteWell EU economy isn't doing that well so demand is getting soft.
DeleteThe EU economy is growing. And it's light years ahead of Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Albania.
DeleteEU economy is in recession, but none has a courage to admit
DeleteAdmit what? EU economy grew in 2022 and 2023 and all EU countries (barring Germany and Estonia I think) saw a rise in their gdp
DeleteWell this blows
ReplyDeleteGood riddance to Ryanair!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWhy?
DeleteTypical Ryanair
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have a strong local airline and you end up playing with the devil it can go wrong very quickly. But on the other hand how many of these routes are really viable in the depths of winter? Podgorica/Montenegro is hardly a holiday destination at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteThey are degrading our airport because of Tirana :-/
ReplyDeleteGood for them, bad for our airport.
Podgorica is a two hour ride from Tirana where Ryanair has wide scale operations. The airline's management obviously came to the conclusion that it doesn't make sense to cannibalize itself.
DeleteWho on earth would drive for 2+ hours to Tirana + a possible big wait at the border?
Delete53.000 Montenegro passport holders traveled from TIA last year.
Delete@10:00 Stupidity. Wizz Air has bases in TIA, SKP and SOF which are all not that far away from each other pluus they operate from TGD. They also have KRK and KTW base and everything is fine. Ryanair does not have a huge network from TIA, go and
Deletecheck it, around 15 routes half of which are to Italy and UK and which are just operated a few times per day and we all know why.
It's actually 26 routes. But good try 👍
DeleteLondon, Bec, Stambol, Varsava, Rim imaju dovoljno.
ReplyDeleteI really think Frankfurt or Munich is missing.
DeleteGoodbye Ryanair
ReplyDeletehigh fees is always a good excuse
ReplyDeleteIt's not an excuse, it's literally how Ryanair and Wizz operate. If they have to pay an extra 4 euros per passenger for every single passenger then that's a 10% increase in their unit costs.
DeleteExactly last anon +1
DeleteDoes Air Montenegro fly to Germany in winter?
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteGreat :( so no flight to Germany in winter.
DeleteThere is still Dortmund and Memmingen by Wizz Air.
Delete^ Riveting destinations...
DeleteMinken i Dizeldorf malo li je. Tamo zivi samo 400k zimi.
DeleteGood news for JU and OS
ReplyDeleteYes, will boost JU's Berlin and Krakow flights.
DeleteeasyJet comes to Podgorica!!
ReplyDeleteHuh?
Deletelow demand
ReplyDeleteHas nothing to do with demand but with fees. Read the article.
DeleteAre the canceled Ryanair connections from TGD coming back during the summer season or not?
ReplyDeleteYes most likely. Like they brought MAN, ZAG and CRL back this summer.
DeleteRyanair from Podgorica was full with people from Northern Albania especially Shkoder.
ReplyDeleteNow with them flying massively from Tirana, there is no need for these flights.
Albanians are flying en masse to Krakow and Gdansk?
DeleteThe only route which can be affected by your theory is MAN as FR now operates on several routes from UK to Tirana. Maybe this is because of Wizz Air, Wizz Air has way better network from TIA then FR.
DeleteThe issue is that half of Montenegro now flies via Tirana, even people from the north that is 4hr away
ReplyDeleteAt least LOT still flies year round so Polish destinations can be reached through Warsaw,
ReplyDeleteThis will have a big impact on passenger numbers at the airport this winter.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Tolic will sort something out.
DeleteNotecibly, Ryanair was not flying to Dubrovnik while he was managing it :)
DeleteA country can't base its connectivity to the world with LCC.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI don't think Montenegro has based its connectivity on LCCs in any way.
DeleteShame
ReplyDeleteAir Montenegro should cover the main European hubs ASAP. JU is always an option, but direct flights to major hubs is an absolute must ...
ReplyDeleteAlthough still fresh to the Sarajevo market I wonder how things will play out, will they expand or pull out
ReplyDeleteAs long as they are getting paid to fly to Sarajevo like they are now, they will stay and expand.
DeleteThey are doing great in Sarajevo as far as I hear, and should be adding new routes soon
DeleteAs soon as new subsidy tender is launched they will add routes. Without it, nothing.
DeleteTime for Air Montenegro to expand.
ReplyDeleteFirst they have to pick new CEO.
DeleteI see a lot of people saying this happened because of TIA, but since we already know how the SOF "fairytale" ended I am not sure TIA's will be different.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened with SOF if I may ask?
DeleteI saw a lot of MNE cars at the TIA parking.
ReplyDeleteAny MNE cars at DBV parking?
Delete^ Good question.
DeleteDubrovnik should have been Montenegros gate to the outside world if domestic alternatives werent available.
Many foreign tourists heading to Montenegro fly into Dubrovnik.
DeleteIn April me and my friend went from Barcelona to Montenegro but we flew through Dubrovnik with Vueling.
Delete@ 21:13
DeleteDBV is rather seasonal...
There goes my hope of them actually introducing new routes.
ReplyDelete