Air Montenegro has not the slightest chance of operating positively. Not in the least, aviation analyst Alen Šćuric assessed for Dan.
“Even if the company grows to six or seven planes, it cannot operate positively. Well, Air Serbia, which has 20 planes, does not succeed either. The company will spend a lot of taxpayer money. And current politics must be aware of that and prepare for it, as well as the public. Will it spend less than Montenegro Arlines? Very likely yes. Will it spend at least ten million euros a year? Oh yes, it will. Everyone who hopes that it will be different, has not the slightest idea about aviation”, said Šćuric.
He pointed out that he was not too satisfied with the work of Air Montenegro so far.
“The company got an extremely fast AOC, and it did a huge job. And it should be sincerely and deeply congratulated on that. But everything else is not very good. The number of routes is modest, there should have been many more, the planes are poorly used and have too much idle, which costs, the flight schedule is poorly made and there are days when passengers from Tivat and Podgorica cannot go to Belgrade and return on the same day. They waited too long to increase flights to Belgrade, even though they saw that their planes were 100 percent full. The other plane they bought is not capable of flying, which is why they have to rent an expensive German plane, but they already have lawsuits. There were flight cancellations and long delays. 30 passengers were left in Banja Luka to whom tickets were sold, but they did not have a seat on the plane, so they could only travel in five days. All this together for a company that is only a month and a couple of days old, is not very good. And all that swallows big money”, pointed out Šćuric.
Recently, Air Montenegro canceled part of the flights, while part was delayed due to technical problems. Air Montenegro planes are serviced in Bratislava. Šćuric believes that the technical problems in Podgorica would be eliminated overnight and the delays would be minimal, while there would be no cancellations. He also believes that there will be delays and cancellations of flights in the future.
“The company has only two planes, which makes operations incomparably more risky. In addition, the company has no maintenance in Podgorica because it has not agreed with Montenegro Airlines, which makes maintenance more complicated, expensive and prolongs solutions in case of failures. Just last weekend, when flights were canceled, while others were delayed by several hours, it shows how risky this is. But, in addition, such cancellations and delays cost the company a lot because it has to pay accommodation and food to passengers, compensations for delays and pay other companies to do flights for them”, he explained.
According to him, the company's image has not been shaken due to recent problems with the engine of one of the planes.
“But that engine has created additional huge costs for the company. So, you gave 10.5 million dollars to the taxpayers for a plane that is not in function, and it gave a huge amount of money to rent someone else's plane. Extremely illogical, isn't it? How is it possible that the company bought a plane that has such a problem? How did they not know that and did not protect themselves”, asks Šćuric.
Air Montenegro started flying on June 10. The company was founded after the government gave up on rescuing Montenegro Airlines.
Bought a plane and don't fly it
Air Montenegro loses a significant amount of money by operating flights on another company's plane, instead of its own.
“If Air Montenegro did not have its own aircraft that is not capable of flying, then the wet lease of German's plane would not be strange, include it in the price of an hour of flight and try to be profitable. But they bought a plane and it doesn't fly. It is possible for them, it is not their money, Montenegro gave it to them. You know, such models have never thrilled me, because until you earn something yourself, and someone gives it to you, then you can allow yourself such behavior”, he said and added that flying someone else's plane is more unfavorable.
“Foreign crews are always less enthusiastic, they give significantly less, they whine, they demand their rights to the maximum. Especially those from Germany who have by far the greatest rights in all of Europe. Flying with someone else's plane and crew can be profitable, of course, but by no means as flying your own plane and crew. This is incomparably cheaper, operationally easier, but also in all ways more favorable for both the company and the passengers”, stated Šćuric.
A small number of flights to Frankfurt
Šćuric praised the enthusiasm and systematic work of Air Montenegro, as well as the huge work that has been done.
“I would praise the fight for every line, logical lines towards Ljubljana and Banja Luka, the development of the network. Management must first and foremost set the system, the strategy of the company. For now, everything seems too spontaneous to me. Ok, it's the product of a lot of work and problems, so some things are neglected, but still such that it loses money. If they started with flights to Frankfurt, then I can't have them only twice a week. They better not have started it then. So, if you have already decided on a move, then you have to systematically analyze it, understand the specifics of each line and thus set the flights. Well, in that case, you have to fly to Frankfurt every day or at least four times a week, but no less than three flights a week. Not in the beginning”, pointed out Šćuric.