Armenia's prime minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged the failure of the national airline program Fly Arna. He made such a statement during a parliamentary session on March 20th.
The prime minister noted that the decision to launch the program was made during the coronavirus pandemic when many budget airlines suspended their flights to Armenia.
"In this situation, we made the decision (to launch the national airline project), essentially entrusting the management of the company to one of the major players in the external market," Pashinyan said.
However, despite this, Pashinyan emphasized that new market conditions, as well as the emergence of new competitors, led to Fly Arna being unable to withstand the competition.
The prime minister also stressed that the government had taken certain investigative actions on this issue, and if necessary, a criminal legal assessment would be given. However, he did not express optimism about the continuation of the project, citing a lack of optimistic prospects.
Pashinyan also recalled events related to civil aviation, including Armenia being placed on the European Union's aviation "blacklist," expressing hope that the country would soon be removed from it due to the measures taken.
Earlier, BMG reported the suspension of the license of the country's national airline, Fly Arna, due to the company's lack of aircraft. The main difficulties faced by the company, as noted by Armenia's deputy minister of territorial administration and Infrastructure Armen Simonyan, are related to funding issues.
In January of this year, it was announced that flights of the Armenian carrier Fly Arna would be suspended due to operational changes. Fly Arna was founded in September 2021. It was established by the United Arab Emirates-based airline Air Arabia and Armenia's State Interests Fund. The airline operated flights to Russia and Iran.
