February 17 (SeeNews) - Montenegro has reached an agreement to acquire two Embraer 195 aircraft from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) for $21.8 million (18 million euro), the government in Podgorica said.
The planes will be purchased for the needs of ToMontenegro, the successor of troubled flag carrier Montenegro Airlines, which operated the aircraft under a lease agreement signed with GECAS in 2007, the Montenegrin government said in a statement on Tuesday.
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"Instead of the state paying over $43 million due to the termination of the current lease agreement between Montenegro Airlines and GECAS, while losing all rights to operate those aircraft, today we decided to buy them for just over $21 million," finance minister Milojko Spajic said.
In December, Montenegro's government decided to liquidate Montenegro Airlines and establish a new flag carrier in no less than six to nine months. The liquidation procedure would cost about 50 million euro but it is inevitable as the country's competition authority has ruled that a law for public investments in the flag carrier adopted in December 2019 was illegal, the government said back then.
Montenegro Airlines owns one Fokker 100 and operated three Embraer 195 planes under rent. Two of the Embraer 195 aircraft are leased out by GECAS, while the other one has been operated under financial leasing with Brazil's BNDS bank since 2010.
($ = 0.82799 euro)