Airports of Montenegro (ACG) ended last year successfully and with a record number of passengers, announced the company's executive director Roko Tolić, saying that the adaptation of the airport infrastructure should urgently begin due to the increased traffic expected this year.
Tolić said in an interview with the Mina-business agency that the company has already submitted an investment plan for approval, especially in the context of equipment.
"I want the good trend of prompt decision-making by the Government to continue and for them to support us in announcing tenders on time, at the beginning of this year, so that equipment manufacturers can deliver everything we need to safely, efficiently and appropriately meet the large turnover that awaits us this year, much larger than in the previous record year," Tolić said in an interview with the Mina-business agency.
He stated that the company is satisfied with the results achieved last year. For the first time in history, over three million passengers passed through Montenegrin airports, generating almost 49 million euros in aviation revenue and almost 17 million euros in operating profit.
"So we can say that the year we are seeing off is very optimistic and sets high standards for what lies ahead," added Tolić.
He said that good results have been achieved with airport infrastructure that was long outdated and designed for a significantly smaller number of passengers.
"We should not turn a blind eye to the urgent need to adapt capacities, that is, to increase and modernize them. The period in which airports have been waiting for their next development phase for almost two decades is too long. A lot of time has been lost, but let's be optimistic and make a decision on the direction in which airports should move," Tolić emphasized.
He stated that Tivat Airport has achieved extraordinary results in difficult conditions and has experienced perhaps the greatest metamorphosis of all airports in the region.
Although the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian markets were canceled due to geopolitical circumstances, ACG, as Tolić said, did not sit idly by.
"The national carrier of Great Britain, British Airways, and one of the largest not only aviation, but also business brands in the world, is coming to us this summer. We also have the national carrier of Spain, Iberia, as well as additional increased flights from numerous British destinations, a full seven months of flights, from the end of March to the end of October," Tolić specified.
Also, the airline TUI fly Netherlands is opening the Amsterdam - Tivat route in May this year.
"It's another very important destination, a major airport, an important country, an important market in our portfolio," said Tolić.
When it comes to airlines, Tolić announced that there are about 70 from Podgorica and 60 from Tivat.
"We don't intend to stop there. We are very ambitious and open to hearing any suggestions on where we could direct our activities and where we could look for a partner," said Tolić.
He added that ACG noticed that citizens did not recognize that some destinations to which flights would be made actually covered multiple cities.
"I invite them to open their atlases and see where Malmo and Baden-Baden are, to see how to get to Belgium and the Netherlands and how Denmark is covered. Also, to look at which carriers are there, what they offer, and whether it is possible to get to a completely different part of the country, not only in the country, but also in other countries, by purchasing one ticket, with a short stopover at one airport," said Tolić.
Low-cost airline Wizz Air will open a base in Podgorica in March, with routes connecting the capital with key European cities.
Tolić believes that there will be many challenges in this area, noting that Wizz Air is coming with two large aircraft, a large number of passengers and a large number of rotations, and that the flight schedule is currently being coordinated.
"The wishes of both parties are identical, everyone wants the best for the passengers, and I would really like us to adapt the infrastructure as soon as possible in a way that we can increase frequencies and possibly add a third aircraft," said Tolić, adding that in addition to Wizz Air, they have other interested carriers.
Speaking about the company's plans for the coming period, Tolić said that the most important thing is the feeling that Montenegro is increasingly connected to the world and that this is accompanied by its path to the European Union (EU).
"This puts us in the focus of numerous markets that we would not have had oriented towards us now, and it would be a real shame not to take advantage of this great opportunity. We are now turning our attention to those parts of Europe, and even the world, for which we have a signal that there would be potential for flying to us, so we will very soon open some more destinations that will be interesting to citizens, but let's not forget that we must also support the economy," Tolić concluded.
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