Podgorica Airport hopes the upcoming opening of Wizz Air’s base within the Montenegrin capital will assist it win again a few of the 140,000 Montenegrin nationals who used the fast-growing Tirana Airport in 2025. The top of operator Airports of Montenegro, Roko Tolić, lately stated, “We have to be not less than as engaging as our opponents. Proper now, we’re caught in a sort of squeeze between Dubrovnik and Tirana. We’ll attempt to change that, whereas taking into consideration the corporate, our capabilities and the general public curiosity”. He added, “What hurts is the variety of residents from Montenegro that journey to Tirana to seek out their onward connections there. That’s one of many points I’m anticipated to unravel, and one of many causes I used to be appointed as Government Director of Airports of Montenegro”.
In 2025, virtually 140.000 Montenegrin residents flew to or from Tirana Airport, representing a 14% improve on the earlier yr. This determine doesn’t embody travellers from Montenegro with international passports. The most well-liked locations with Montenegrin passengers from Tirana had been these to Italy and Spain. Commenting on the upcoming Wizz Air base in Podgorica, the Basic Supervisor of Tirana Airport, Piervittorio Farabbi, stated, “I imagine the brand new capability in Podgorica might be complementary for your entire area, particularly for markets resembling Italy, Germany and France, and that we must always all be thankful for Wizz Air’s deal with the Western Balkans. As well as, with the brand new portfolio of locations in Podgorica and Tirana, we might additionally see demand diversify, notably on the subject of tourism choices”.
Wizz Air will open a base in Podgorica this March launching fifteen new routes within the course of. New locations embody Barcelona, Basel, Beauvais, Baden Baden, Cologne, Hamburg, Rome Fiumicino, Gdansk, Maastricht, Malmo, Poznan, Rzeszow, Ljubljana, Vilnius and Wrocław. Wizz Air will compete immediately in opposition to flag provider Air Montenegro on companies to Rome and Ljubljana, in addition to Ryanair to Gdansk and Wroclaw. The brand new routes will be a part of the already served Budapest, Dortmund, Memmingen and Milan Malpensa on a year-round foundation, in addition to Katowice, London Gatwick and Warsaw seasonally. The airline plans to have two Airbus A321neo plane based mostly within the metropolis, with a lot of routes launching in late March and a second batch in June. Wizz Air dealt with simply over 360.000 passengers on its Podgorica operations in 2025.
