ArmInfo.Armenian airlines that were previously unable to take advantage of the "air tax" exemption will now be eligible. At its January 14 meeting, the National Assembly's Committee on Economic Affairs approved the draft amendments to the Law "On State Duty," submitted by the Armenian government for the first reading.
According to Armen Simonyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia, a legislative rule has been in effect in the country since 2019, exempting airlines from paying the so-called "air tax" when operating new air routes. This rule has significantly increased the number of flights to various destinations. At the same time, the Deputy Minister noted that at a certain point, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, some problems arose due to the fact that domestic airlines with their own codes were unable to operate flights on new routes, while continuing to operate flights based on agreements with airport operators. As a result, these airlines were unable to take advantage of the incentives, relying solely on so-called "wet leasing." Now, due to various circumstances, including the airlines' inability to operate new flights under their own codes, domestic airlines that were unable to take advantage of the preference will have one year to submit applications and take advantage of the incentive.
Furthermore, another change to the law concerns the duration of the incentive, which is currently valid for three years with the right to extend it for another two years. However, some airlines have already exhausted this limit. Therefore, they are granted the right to extend this legislative provision for two years (24 months each).
The Deputy Minister emphasized that the rationale behind the "air tax" was aimed at developing civil aviation. However, completely abandoning it is currently considered premature, especially since the RA government is implementing a program to subsidize each passenger on new routes. Approximately 15 billion drams are collected annually through the "air tax."
