The Montenegrin government has begun talks with Ryanair over potential flights from Manchester to Tivat this coming summer season. It comes a year after the no frills airline declined an offer from the Montenegrin government to launch services from London, Milan and Brussels to Podgorica. “We have begun talks with Ryanair and we are expecting a positive outcome”, the Deputy Minister for Sustainable Development and Tourism, Željka Radak Kukavčić, said in a statement. She added that the government has made it a priority to bring low cost airlines to Montenegro and improve its connectivity with the rest of the continent. Despite relying on tourism, Montenegro is currently not served by a single scheduled low cost airline.

In March 2012, the Montenegrin government said it had negotiated with Ryanair to launch flights to Podgorica from three cities in June. However, the announcement was followed by an angry reaction from the low cost airline, unhappy that details of the agreement were made public. It then decided not to sign the agreement with the Montenegrin government citing expensive fees at Podgorica Airport as its main motive for staying away. Tour operators blamed the government, claiming it purposely sabotaged the negotiating process to protect Montenegro Airlines.

Within the former Yugoslavia, Ryanair is only present in Croatia where it operates flights to several airports on a seasonal summer basis. From April, the airline will be setting up a base in Zadar. So far, Alitalia has already announced that it will be launching scheduled flights from Rome to Podgorica this summer season while Air Berlin and Condor will inaugurate flights to Tivat from Munich and Frankfurt respectively. Air Berlin has in previous years run seasonal summer flights from Nuremberg to Tivat.