Start-up Armenia Airways launches operations

Armenia Airways flies BAe 146-300 between its capital Yerevan and Teheran (Armenia Airways / Facebook)

Armenian start-up carrier Armenia Airways has launched scheduled operations. According to its official facebook account, it made its maiden flight from Yerevan to Teheran on June 15, with the Iranian capital now being served daily using a BAe 146-300 aircraft with the registration EK-14601.

Armenia Airways also has two Airbus A310s, both of which – the 27.4-year-old EK-31001 and the 27.3-year-old EK-31002 – were previously operated by Romania’s Tarom Airlines, and which arrived in Armenia a year ago.

In the local market, Armenia Airways’ only competitor is Armenia, a carrier founded by the management of Georgian Airways from neighbouring Georgia, although this airline continues to be financially unsuccessful.

In 2013, the government of the Caucasus country launched a liberalisation programme in an effort to open up the country’s air travel market and make it more competitive. But a year later, this move led to the demise of Air Armenia, the country’s main carrier, which followed the same financial insolvency path as its predecessor Armavia. At the time, Air Armenia’s general director Arsen Avetisyan, blamed the open-skies initiative for the airline’s woes.

Earlier this year Armenia’s aviation authority met up with Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair in Dublin to discuss the possibilities of the Irish discounter launching flights to the country as early as in 2020.