Montenegro’s new national carrier, Air Montenegro, which will commence operations on June 10 with flights from Podgorica and Tivat to Belgrade, will add further two destinations to its route network by the end of the month. The airline will introduce flights from Tivat to Ljubljana and Banja Luka from June 27. Services to the Slovenian capital will operate three times per week, while flights to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s
Air Montenegro’s predecessor, Montenegro Airlines, maintained flights from Podgorica to Ljubljana until its demise. During the pre-pandemic 2019, when the service was also maintained by the now defunct Adria Airways, Ljubljana was Podgorica’s fourth busiest route, with 55.758 passengers travelling between the two capital cities. On the other hand, flights between Banja Luka and Tivat were last operated in 2014, when the now defunct B&H Airlines maintained a one weekly seasonal service between the two cities for two months, although tickets could only be purchased through a single tour operator, rather than directly from the airline itself. Based on OAG data, Air Serbia, as the only airline offering transfer options out of Banja Luka, carried 310 passengers between the city and Tivat in the 2019 and 92 travellers between Tivat and Ljubljana. In 2020, these figures stood at 63 and 24 respectively.
Commenting on the new network additions, Air Montenegro said, “Due to market demand and significant interest expressed by travellers from Banja Luka and Ljubljana to fly to Montenegro, the company’s management has decided to launch these two routes”. The carrier’s CEO, Predrag Todorović, added, “We expect the introduction of additional new routes in the coming period”. Montenegro’s State Secretary, Zoran Radunović, previously said that in addition to Belgrade and Ljubljana, flights to Frankfurt will also be introduced, while EX-YU Aviation News learns the carrier is also considering commencing operations to Istanbul.
Montenegro Airlines a.d. was the flag carrier of Montenegro, headquartered in Podgorica. It operated scheduled and charter services throughout Europe from its hub at Podgorica Airport with a second base maintained at Tivat Airport. The airline was liquidated from 26 December 2020 due to accumulating heavy losses.
