GDCA Head confirmed: RA and RF discussed creation of a new national air carrier of Armenia

ArmInfo. Head of the General  Department of Civil Aviation under the Armenian government Sergey  Avetisyan confirmed with the Radio Azatutyun on December 21 that the  Armenian and Russian governments discussed the issue of creating a  new national air carrier of Armenia.  "There was a preliminary  discussion, after which no substantive steps were taken," Avetisyan  said.

According to the head of the GDCA, the issue of Russian aircraft was  discussed, but no steps have been taken yet. "We held only a stage of  very preliminary working discussions and all," Avetisyan said, while  the head of the GDCA pointed out that at the moment the discussions  are not being held, whether they will be resumed in the future, he  can not say the Armenian Ministry of Transport informed that on  January 24 the Minister of Transport, Communications and IT of  Armenia Vahan Martirosyan and the Minister of Industry and Trade of  the Russian Federation Denis Manturov discussed the deliveries of the  SSJ-100 aircraft to Armenia as part of the creation of a national  carrier in the country.

According to the information, Vahan Martirosyan presented to the  Russian colleague the prospects of the national air carrier. The  parties discussed the joint project of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and  Consent, according to which the Armenian nationalists will be able to  use the fleet of SSJ 100 aircraft. It was noted that some work has  already been done in this direction.

In particular, a joint working group was formed with the  participation of representatives of the parties in order to develop a  roadmap for the project. For the first time, Russian Minister Denis  Manturov announced on the sidelines of the III All-Russian Forum of  Light Industry in November 2016 about the prospect of creating a  national carrier in Armenia with a fleet of SSJ 100 aircraft. The  minister noted that the interest in only one is to promote the  Russian manufacturer. Recall that in 2013 Armenia remained without a  national carrier because of the bankruptcy of the company Armavia,  which in 2011 received the first Sukhoi Superjet-100. After Armavia,  the country's national air market left the company, unable to  withstand competition with Russian carriers, and Air Armenia.