- Government of Montenegro
PM Krivokapić – PMQs: State saved EUR 40 million b...
PM Krivokapić – PMQs: State saved EUR 40 million by buying two planes
Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić said that the Government of Montenegro decided to purchase two aircraft, which were under an operating lease in the company Montenegro Airlines.
"The planes were bought from GECAS. The existing contract was extremely financially unfavourable for MA, and economically unsustainable. The conditions for the termination and return of the two 4O-AOA and 4O-AOB aircraft amounted to over EUR 40 million, with additional penalties under the previously terminated contract for the lease of 4O-AOD aircraft. In this transaction, the state of Montenegro (as a guarantor in the contract between MA and GECAS) would have to pay the stated amount, and in addition it would not have the right to aircraft. The purchase of these planes resulted in huge budget savings of EUR 20 million in cash, and at the same time the state became the permanent owner of the planes, which means that the state saved approximately EUR 40 million in total. The planes were paid for immediately," said Prime Minister Krivokapić during the Prime Minister's Question, answering the question from Boris Bogdanović from the MP Club Democratic Montenegro.
The Prime Minister announced that EUR 77.9 million had been paid to Montenegro Airlines from the budget of Montenegro since 2008, which is shown in the table.
Overview of payments to Montenegro Airlines
2008 | 825,761.00 | |||||
Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs | 825,761.00 | |||||
| ||||||
2013 | 2,707,885.71 | |||||
Ministry of Finance | 2,707,885.71 | |||||
| ||||||
2014 | 318,351.67 | |||||
Ministry of Finance | 318,351.67 | |||||
| ||||||
2015 | 1,585,471.88 | |||||
Ministry of Finance | 1,585,471.88 | |||||
| ||||||
2017 | 9,497,155.89 | |||||
Budget reserve | 4,297,155.89 | |||||
Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs | 5,200,000.00 | |||||
| ||||||
2018 | 7,266,658.70 | |||||
Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs | 7,266,658.70 | |||||
| ||||||
2019 | 12,124,000.00 | |||||
Budget reserve | 6,624,000.00 | |||||
Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs | 5,500,000.00 | |||||
| ||||||
2020 | 43,639,196.13 | |||||
Budget reserve | 25,580,701.44 | |||||
Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs | 18,058,494.69 | |||||
| ||||||
T O T A L : | 77,964,480.98 | |||||
Prime Minister Krivokapić said that the debt of the company MA at the time of the suspension of flight operations amounted to around EUR 110 million, which, as he stated, prevented further operations of the company, and the state did not have a legal framework to continue providing financial assistance.
"At the time of the suspension of flight operations, the MA company owned one Fokker 100, manufactured in 1992. The other Embraer 195 operating aircraft were two under an operating lease and one under a financial lease. The other four planes at the Podgorica airport were landed earlier and without the possibility of being put back into traffic," concluded Prime Minister Krivokapić.
