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British Airways has announced that it will launch a new seasonal summer service to a country that it hasn’t served before – Montenegro, the mountainous Balkan country situated on the Adriatic coast in Southeast Europe and which was used as one of the locations for Casino Royale (part of the James Bond franchise).
The service
Montenegro has two international airports – Tivat Airport (TIV) and Podgorica Airport (TGD) – and British Airways will be serving Tivat from 14 May 2025.
As thing stand, this is the proposed schedule:
BA624 LHR 08:45 – 12:45 TIV (Tue)
BA624 LHR 10:10 – 14:10 TIV (Thu)
BA624 LHR 11:10 – 15:10 TIV (Sat)
BA625 TIV 13:35 – 15:45 LHR (Tue)
BA625 TIV 14:55 – 17:05 LHR (Thu)
BA625 TIV 15:55 – 18:05 LHR (Sat)
The flights are blocked at 3 hours so this will be one of the longer short-haul routes that British Airways operates.
The last flights of the season (for this route) will be on 26 September 2026.
Award costs
Economy Class (one way):
Off Peak:
- 2,900 Avios + £45.00
- 4,650 Avios + £35.00
- 7,250 Avios + £17.50
- 9,750 Avios + £10.00
- 11,000 Avios + £4.50
- 11,750 Avios + £0.50
Peak:
- 3,250 Avios + £57.50
- 5,250 Avios + £47.50
- 8,250 Avios + £17.50
- 9,250 Avios + £12.50
- 12,000 Avios + £4.50
- 12,750 Avios + £0.50
Club Europe/Business Class (one way):
Off Peak:
- 8,000 Avios + £84.50
- 10,000 Avios + £69.50
- 13,500 Avios + £37.00
- 15,000 Avios + £29.50
- 19,250 Avios + £16.50
- 20,000 Avios + £12.50
Peak:
- 8,750 Avios + £94.50
- 11,750 Avios + £74.50
- 15,750 Avios + £37.00
- 17,250 Avios + £29.50
- 21,500 Avios + £16.50
- 22,250 Avios + £12.50
Due to the nature of BA’s short-haul award pricing, Avios are the most economical currency to use when booking award tickets on this route, but you can use any OneWorld currency to book if you don’t have Avios (check the individual OneWorld airlines for their pricing).
Thoughts
It’s a shame that the “season” is a bit short (it would have been nice to have flights in April and October which are both part of the Northern Hemisphere summer flying season), but I’m still pleased to see this route get added as I’ve been wanting to visit Montenegro for some time – it looks beautiful.
Not only will this be the first non-stop route to Montenegro served out of London Heathrow, but it will also be the first route between the UK and Montenegro to be served by a full-service carrier and, more importantly, a carrier on which awards can be booked (EasyJet, Ryanair and Jet2 all offer services to Montenegro from other UK airports).
Montenegro isn’t exactly awash with properties from the major hotel chains (Marriott has no presence in Montenegro, Hilton has just one property, Hyatt has just two, and IHG has just 4), so this will probably be a good place to try out a few boutique and independent options.
That being said, there’s still a little bit of good news for miles and points fans on the hotel front.
The Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay is just a 25-minute car ride from Tivat Airport, and not only is this a property that seems to get very good reviews (link to the FlyerTalk thread), it’s also a Category 4 World of Hyatt property which means that it’s within scope of the Hyatt Cat 1-4 Free Night Certificates.
You’ll also find that booking an award here can sometimes save you a lot of cash. In the example above, the property costs 15,000 points or €457 + tax (€481/$554 total) and booking an award on this particular date would see a World of Hyatt member getting almost 3.7 cents for every point used – that’s a fantastic deal.
There’s good news for IHG fans as well. Not only does Montenegro boast an upscale Regent hotel (Regent Porto Montenegro – 15 mins by taxi from Tivat airport), it also has a Voco and a Crown Plaza which are both well regarded and which are both often available for under 40,000 points/night (making them very useful to anyone with an IHG Free Night Certificate worth up to 40,000 points).
Note: Both the Voco and the Crowne Plaza are approximately 90 minutes’ drive away from Tivat airport.
Bottom line
British Airways will be operating to Montenegro for the first time next summer when it launches a route between London Heathrow and Tivat on 14 May 2026. The service will run through 26 September 2026 and will be the first non-stop service between the UK and Montenegro which can be booked with miles and points.
