Montenegro Airlines planning to introduce flights to Lisbon and Istanbul

Montenegro Airiness is negotiating the potential introduction of scheduled flights to Lisbon and Istanbul, as announced by the carrier’s CEO, Željko Banjević.

– In terms of new destinations in 2020, we are currently completing our analysis and negotiations over the potential introduction of seasonal flights to Lisbon and Istanbul. In the coming period, we will also be working on commencing flights towards new destinations within Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East – Banjević said.

He did not specify whether the new routes would originate from Podgorica or Tivat.

Currently, Turkish Airlines maintains services between Istanbul and Podgorica, while there are no flights from Montenegro to Lisbon. At this point, Montenegro Airlines plans to run flights to sixteen destinations. Of those, half are year-round, and half are seasonal. In 2020, the carrier will operate flights to a total of fifteen charter destinations.

As EX-YU Aviation News reports, fleet-wise, Montenegro Airlines will retire its sole operational Fokker 100 jet following the end of the 2020 summer season.

– The plan is to have a fleet of five Embraer E195 jets, while a sixth plane, of the same or greater capacity, would be wet-leased through an ACMI over the summer season – Banjević noted.

The airline currently has five F100 jets in its fleet, four of which are grounded, and three E195s. Two of the Embraer jets are on operational leases, which run until 2024 and 2025 respectively.

– We will negotiate the acquisition of those two E195s from the lessors, because we have been systematically investing in them since 2008 – the CEO said.

The airline previously noted it would lease an additional E195 jet for the coming summer.