State acquires two jets for ToMontenegro
The Montenegrin government has reached an agreement with financing and leasing company GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to acquire two Embraer E195 aircraft for the country’s new national airline ToMontenero. The two jets were previously operated by the former national carrier Montenegro Airlines under a financial lease deal with GECAS, which would have seen the company become the aircraft’s owner over time. However, the airline had to make a further 39 million US dollars in payments for the jets. The Montenegrin government managed to renegotiate the purchase price to 21.780.000 US dollars. Had the agreement been terminated, it would have set the state back 43 million US dollars.
The Montenegrin Minister for Finance, Milojko Spajić, said in a statement, “We have made huge progress. Instead of the state paying over 43 million US dollars for the termination of the lease agreement and loosing the two aircraft, today we decided to buy them for just over 21 million US dollars. As a result, they are now permanently owned by the state. Painstaking and direct daily negotiations took place with GECAS over the past month in order for this agreement to be reached”. He added, “With the purchase of these two aircraft, we are one step closer to reaching our goal, which is for ToMontenegro to become operational and for flights to commence by June 1”.
The government has also issued a public call this week to select a consultant which will assist in the process of establishing the country’s new national airline. Services will include: support for the acquisition of a new Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), a plan for the new carrier such as the drafting of an organisational structure, business model, transition plan of key assets from Montenegro Airlines, market analysis and commercial plan, support in ensuring operational readiness as soon as possible, as well as operational, staffing, employment, training, IT deployment, and management plans. Furthermore, the consultant will provide support for the start of operations and coordination between the commercial and operational sectors, the efficient launch of flight operations, aircraft maintenance plan and control, crew and dispatch department plans, drafting of an efficient route network and the establishment of a competent customer support centre. The deadline for the submission of bids has been set as early as February 24 with a decision on the winner to be made by March 3.
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