Could you tell us something about the history of Montenegro Airlines?
Montenegro Airlines is an international airline that was established six years ago. We started our first operations four years ago with two Fokker 28 planes of the previous generation.
Now, we travel the destinations of Western Europe, for example, Rome, Frankfurt, Vienna and Budapest. By next year, strict regulations will be introduced on these airports, so we had to modernize the planes and decided, together with the government, for the Fokker 100, which is a very good machine. This is, in a way a guarantee that the planes are in a good technical condition. Since we have our own planes we are also obliged to have our own maintenance crew, technical and operational equipment.
After all the misfortunes, sanctions, wars and the bombing, this is the first year when we started working with full capacity, and I am happy to say that the results are satisfying. The security, quality and punctuality are on a high level, and we will continue to work the same way.
Due to the geographical position of Montenegro the best way of transportation is by plane. We, as a country, are aware of that and we are trying to build a bridge between Montenegro and Europe together with a high quality service.
Montenegro is in a very delicate political situation now. We hope to become an independent country soon, and as an independent country we will be able to receive credits more easily that we can use for modernization.
We hope to receive the many tourists we once had.
What are the financial results of Montenegro Airlines, the turnover, profit margins and number of employees?
Now that we have stabilized the fleet, for June, July and August we are completely booked. Unfortunately during the other months the interest is low. I must admit that during those months we get help from the government.
What are your future plans concerning the investments in order to improve, fully modernize and increase the capacity of Montenegro Airlines?
With the renewal of the fleet we have finalized the second phase of development. Now we hope for the visa regime to be facilitated for Montenegrin people. Unfortunately, it is a very long and complicated procedure which is slowing down our business. Otherwise we would be very lucky to have our citizens aboard and carrying them to, lets say Switzerland. If the visa problem will be resolved and the tourism gets on the right track, by the year 2003 we hope to reach the highest number of passengers, and we hope to buy a Boeing 737 700. It is the most modern aircraft in the world and we plan to increase the number to three by the year 2005. This would be the last phase of our development.
In the meantime how can you improve the access to Montenegro? To have foreigners come to Montenegro and also to have Montenegrins visit other countries?
Our biggest market is Germany and Switzerland. We have opened several branch offices there and we are developing them the most, since before and now the majority of the passengers come from those countries.
Do you hope to open up offices in some of the main European cities?
Yes, of course we plan to open offices in Europe. This year we have opened an office in Vienna, and our commercial and marketing department will chose the most appropriate destination from those above mentioned. We will probably be able to open an office there the next year.
A curious and important fact is that Podgorica is the smallest city in Europe with the greatest number of international destinations in the continent.
It is very expensive to maintain all those destinations, for example a flight to and from Amsterdam costs in total about 35 000 DM.
What about the competition, for example ALITALIA and other carriers? What are your competitive advantages and how do you plan to keep them?
We are aware of the competition on the European sky, and we are getting ready for it. However, in our negotiations with Swissair we have come to the following agreement: we bring passengers from Podgorica to the airports where they fly to other airports with their airline. It is very important for us to keep all our destinations throughout the whole year.
In order to meet this big tourism demand, are you developing charter flights?
We already have additional charter flights to The Czech Republic, Greece, some cities in Germany, Israel and Switzerland. | I see that you have good relations with Fokker, Cailum. What are the investment opportunities, possible partnerships that you are looking forward to in Montenegro?
We are pleased with our fleet, but we already think about purchasing a new plane in two or three years time. The most important issue now is the poor state of the airports in Podgorica and Tivat. People say that the airport is the mirror of a country. I am completely aware of that, unfortunately the government was not, until recently . I had to insist upon the reconstruction of the airports for a long time, but now within the framework of the Pack of Stability the airport is one of the first investment projects. This makes us very optimistic about the future, it will be a new phase in the history of Montenegro Airlines with an airport of European standards.
In addition to all our difficulties, there is a formal problem: these airports are under the jurisdiction of Jat and controlled from Belgrade. The government has expressed its will, and I sincerely hope, that these airports will become the property of Montenegro by the end of the year, and we will be able to manage the airports independently from our country.
During the process of privatization are you looking for a partner that would invest with shares, maintenance or planes? What are your main objectives?
The idea of merging of airlines is now very popular in the world and we are considering it as one of the possibilities. Unfortunately, the situation on the Balkans is not yet stable, and probably we will have to wait with these plans.
In a way this airline is a symbol of independence of the country. Many Europeans hear of Montenegro for the first time through Montenegro Airlines. This is an additional argument why we should wait with merging with another air carrier.
We are in a privileged situation since we are under the protection and support of the government and it will remain for a period of time. We are not yet ready for investors like, for example Telecom is, but as I have said earlier we are looking forward merging with another airline but only when the time comes.
Could you tell us something about your background, becoming a manager and being involved in all these political debates. How has it been for you and what were your main challenges?
It all started with an idea in1993, of course nobody took it seriously then. We had a big and negative influence of Serbia and Milosevic, Mr. Milosevic even asked Mr. Dukanovic and Mr. Bulatovic what does Mr. Durisic want?. JAT airline was the symbol of the united Serbia and Yugoslavia. In 1994 Mr. Milosevic even stated that the establishment of a national airline would be the greatest symbol of separation.
During all these political fights I was working on the grounding of the company and I can say that I established this airline in a legal way. I was very persistent and devoted to my goal and that gave me all the energy I needed. Later on, I started receiving help form the experts of JAT and I learned a lot from them.
Montenegro Airlines currently has 200 hundred employees. It is a great achievement from what we had five years ago, almost incomparable. We went through a very difficult time with the bombings and sanctions, believe me it was very dramatic.
As far as the future of the airline is concerned, I am very optimistic. The young generation wish to have a good life and we are able to give them the possibility to achieve that. Not everybody has the opportunity to finish a high school and be a top level executive or head of a big organization, but the country still needs them and we must help them to make a living.
What would you like to say to the readers of "Forbes" magazine?
Montenegro is very poorly present to the world. We hope that 'Forbes" will give an opportunity to their readers to see the beauty of Montenegro, because like the Chinese saying "A picture is worth a million words". Of course, it is also very important that the beaches are clean, and we take care of the nature. It will motivate people to come and travel to our country again with our airline, have a pleasant reception at the airport, stay at a good hotel, and have a good general impression of the country.
Note: World Investment News Ltd cannot be held responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions. |
