Montenegro shrugs off safety concerns

Montenegro Airlines reassures over safety

Montenegro Airlines has said that all of its aircraft are safe after 2 incidents occurred in just 10 days, assuring the public that the carrier is not cutting costs when it comes to safety and maintenance. The first incident occurred when it was discovered that a chartered flight from Podgorica to Cardiff, carrying the national football team of Montenegro, had an electronics failure onboard. The aircraft in question was a relatively new Embraer E195 jet. Another occurred only several days ago after a Frankfurt bound Fokker F100 was forced to turn back to Podgorica and declare an emergency landing due to a hydraulics problem.

Due to a media frenzy regarding the airline’s safety performance, Montenegro Airlines has explained that its aircraft perform over 20.000 hours of flying time per year and that such technical problems are standard. Although it admitted that the airline is experiencing economic hardship it assured the public that no cost cutting measures are being applied to its safety and maintenance procedures.

Montenegro Airlines had an unusual incident earlier this year when an eagle flew into the nose cone of one of its F100s as the jet was on final to land at Tivat Airport. The bird strike damaged the aircraft’s meteorological radar. In February this year, an engine on the airline’s E195 was damaged in Vienna due to careless handlers.