Armenian aviation authorities have allowed FlyOne Armenia airline to operate Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan charter flights.
"Several days ago Flyone Armenia applied to the aviation authorities of Armenia and Turkey in order to get the permission to perform charter flights on Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan route. We thank the aviation authorities of Armenia for their positive response," FlyOne Armenia Board Chairman Aram Ananyan said, ARKA reports with reference to Armenpress news agency.
Asked when the flights will start, Ananyan said they are waiting for the Turkish aviation authorities' permission.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on December 16 that Ankara was considering the applications of Turkish and Armenian airlines for operating flights between Istanbul and Yerevan.
Turkish mass media outlets quoted Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismayoglu as saying December 23 that flights between Armenia and Turkey will be resumed in the coming days after a 2.5-year break. According to the Minister, the Turkish Pegasus Airlines will carry out the flights.
According to Armenian media reports, the FlyOne Armenia airline is affiliated with the family of Khachatur Sukiasyan, a wealthy businessman, owner of SIL Concern and an MP from the Civil Contract party.
The company said earlier it had invested more than 60 million Euros in the Armenian market. The company's fleet consists of Airbus A320 aircrafts, which will operate both scheduled and charter flights.
Although Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet Union, the countries have no diplomatic ties and Turkey shut down their common border in 1993, in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Turkey also refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide, committed during 1915-1923 when an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman government. The overwhelming majority of historians widely view the event as genocide.
In 2009, Ankara and Yerevan reached an agreement in Zurich to establish diplomatic relations and to open their joint border, but Turkey later said it could not ratify the deal until Armenia withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Last year, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of Nagorno-Karabakh.
