Montenegro Airlines and Israel's major airline El Al are happy to announce that charter flights between Montenegro and Tel Aviv will start in May of this year.

Zoran Djurisic, Chairman of Montenegro Airlines and Haim Romano, Chief Executive Officer of El Al, made the announcement at a news conference in Podgorica today. Mr. Djurisic and Mr. Romano expect the charters to become regularly scheduled flights as soon as a bilateral agreement between their respective governments can be reached.

The two companies signed a Special Prorate Agreement (SPA) contract covering ticket pricing. A code share agreement, which will allow both companies to sell tickets for the charter flights independently, is expected to be signed soon. 

Mr. Romano told the news conference that El Al sees Montenegro Airlines as a valuable and equal partner, adding that the partnership will allow the companies to operate more efficiently in the highly competitive air industry. 

Asked if El Al is interested in buying 30 % of state-owned Montenegro Airlines, Mr. Romano answered that his company is open to negotiations, further stating that the charter flights agreement is a first and very important step in cooperation between the companies.

Mr. Djurisic told reporters that 2008 was the hardest in recent history for airlines, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Despite predictions that the slump would continue in 2009, Mr. Djurisic was pleased to announce that Montenegro Airlines flew 8% more passengers in the first quarter of this year than it did in the same period in 2008. The Montenegro Airlines team is working feverishly to assure the positive trend continues throughout the rest of the year and the agreement with El Al is the first harvest of the fruit of that hard labour.