Pashinyan: Fly Arna airline could not withstand competition in air  carriage market

ArmInfo. Fly Arna airline, in fact, could not withstand competition in the air carriage market. RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated on March 20 during government hour in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, answering a question from MP from the ruling "Civil Contract" faction Arsen Torosyan.

The MP, in particular, asked about the reasons for Fly Arna leaving 

the market, and what conclusions were drawn from the experience of 

airlines with state participation, the authorized capital of which 

was allocated 4.8 billion drams were allocated.

Answering the parliamentarian's question, Pashinyan recalled that 

during the pandemic, many airlines stopped operating flights to 

Armenia, including Ryanair, Wizz Air and others. Then, as Pashinyan 

noted, a decision was made to establish  a domestic airline, the 

management of which was entrusted to a major player in the air 

transportation market. However, later the market situation changed 

somewhat, new companies appeared, which led to the fact that the Fly 

Arna airline, in fact, could not withstand competition in the air 

transportation market.

The Prime Minister also emphasized that serious developments took 

place during this period. In particular, European airspace was closed 

to Armenian civil aviation, since the EU included Armenian carriers 

in its "black lists," which, according to Pashinyan, is a bad story. 

Now these points are being studied. The Prime Minister recalled the 

law that was adopted by the National Assembly and concerns payment 

for services provided by the RA Civil Aviation Committee. This is 

done to enhance the Committee's ability to attract qualified 

personnel. "There is hope that very soon Armenia will leave the EU 

"black list," said the head of the Armenian Cabinet.

Yesterday, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and 

Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia Armen Simonyan said that 

Fly Arna airline had suspended its activities in the air 

transportation market for financial reasons. According to him, the 

airline's license has been suspended. The fact is that, according to 

the current legislation in Armenia, if an air carrier does not have 

at least one aircraft, the license is suspended for up to six months. 

If there is no airliner after six months, the license will be 

completely terminated. "The situation with Fly Arna is being studied 

and if relevant information is available, taking into account 

commercial secrets, it will be made available to the public," the 

deputy minister assured. 

Earlier, ArmInfo, citing sources in Fly Arna, reported that the 

airline intends to leave the Armenian air transportation market. The 

company recalled its two planes. The reason for the recall and 

cessation of activity, as the source noted, was the failure of the 

Armenian side to fulfill the terms of the agreement on the 

establishment of the airline, one of which was the subsidization of 

passenger transportation by the RA government. 

Notably, on December 10, 2021, Armenian National Airlines CJSC 

received state  registration. The company operated under the Fly Arna 

brand -  ARmenian National Airlines. The project to create a new 

airline  became known in July 2020, when the then-current executive 

director  of the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) David 

Papazyan and the general executive director of the budget airline 

based in Sharjah,  Arabia, Ali al Ali, signed an agreement. ANIF 

proposed to announce a  competition for the best name for the new 

airline. Based on the  results of the competition, it was announced 

in September what it  would be called. Initially, it was known that 

the company would  operate on a low-cost business model, in other 

words, it would be an  Armenian low-cost airline (such airlines offer 

passengers low prices,  but at the same time an incomplete, that is, 

not generally accepted,  list of services).