Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) will send a delegation to the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, to discuss with government plans for further cooperation with Montenegro Airlines (Podgorica). The news comes after the Montenegrin Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Igor Lukšić, met with Etihad CEO, James Hogan, in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
“We have made a definite agreement for a team from Etihad Airways to visit Montenegro in order to define models of cooperation and partnership between Etihad Airways and Montenegro Airlines”, Lukšić told EX-YU Aviation News.
It is believed that closer cooperation could lead to the Emiratis acquiring a stake in the struggling carrier; a move akin to that of neighbour Serbia and its new national carrier, Air Serbia (JU, Belgrade), in which Etihad holds a 49% stake.
Montenegro is the latest of the former Yugoslav republics to attempt to privatize its national airline following in the tracks of B&H Airlines (Sarajevo), Adria Airways (Ljubljana), and Croatia Airlines (OU, Zagreb Franjo Tuđman). In government's first attempt at selling off a 30% stake in Montenegro Airlines in 2011, Etihad reportedly purchased tender documentation but did not submit a formal bid.
Using a fleet of three E195s and two Fokker 100s, Montenegro Airlines currently serves Belgrade, Copenhagen Kastrup, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt International, Ljubljana, London Gatwick, Moscow Domodedovo, Paris CDG, Rome Fiumicino, Tivat, Vienna and Zurich.
