With formation of national air carrier and increase in passenger  traffic, issue of expanding Zvartnots airport may arise

ArmInfo.The coronavirus crisis made it possible to create something new, to use the opportunity to be 10 steps ahead,  said Tatevik Revazyan, Head of the Civil  Aviation Committee (CAC), speaking about the agreement on the  formation of a national air carrier, signed recently by the Armenian  National Interests Fund (ANIF) and Air Arabia Group.

"Before deciding to cooperate with Air Arabia, we took into account  the experience of air carriers from all over the world, developed  criteria and received an application from Air Arabia. I'm glad we did  it, as we take a well-functioning budget business model. After all,  80% of air travel in Europe operates on a budget model, "she added.

Revazyan explained that based on the model of Air Arabia's  functioning, its experience, knowledge, infrastructures, aircraft, an  airline will be formed to serve the Armenian market, which will be  registered in the Republic of Armenia. At the same time, she stressed  that with the entry of Air Arabia into the Armenian market, standards  in the Armenian aviation will rise, including those related to  security.

Answering the question about the pricing policy of Air Arabia, the  head of the CAC explained that the low- cost airline, first of all,  will do everything to reduce its costs, which will allow, without  losing competitiveness, to offer low fares in certain directions. In  this context, Revazyan said that the newly formed air carrier will  not have a business class.

The head of the Committee also said that the national air carrier  will operate flights to all priority directions for Armenia, the  maximum duration of which is 5.5 hours.

Referring to the results of the meeting of acting Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan and Argentine- Armenian businessman Eduardo  Eurnekian, she noted that in view of the formation of a national air  carrier, it is possible that there will be a need to expand the  capacity of Zvartnots international airport.  It is planned that the  newly created national air carrier will start operating flights next  year.  It should be reminded that in 2013 Armenia was left without a  national air carrier due to the bankruptcy of Armavia, after which  Air Armenia left the country's aviation market, unable to withstand  competition with Russian carriers.  To note, Air Arabia is an Arab  low-cost airline that was established in 2009, headquartered in  Sharjah, operating in the market for passenger transportation from  Sharjah and Alexandria airports, as well as from four airports in  Morocco, to the Middle East, South -East Asia, Europe and the CIS.   The airline is the first low-cost airline in the Middle East, and  operates flights to 89 cities around the world.  The airline has its  own subsidiaries - Air Arabia Egypt in Alexandria (Egypt) and Air  Arabia Maroc in Casablanca.