Armenia currently has no low-cost routes to Western Europe, but that is about to change following Ryanair’s decision to enter the former Soviet republic’s market. Routesonline takes a look at Armenia's growing aviation sector.
The new non-stop link between Doha and Yerevan will commence from May 15, 2016 with a four times weekly service being flown using an Airbus A320 configured in a two-class arrangement with 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy Class. The new route is understood have been facilitated by Qatar Airways’ network expansion across the US, a market which has strong links back into Armenia, but with limited current connectivity.
Although the carrier has almost ten years experience in the cargo business, this will be its first growth into scheduled passenger operations. It intends to launch operations from September 2015 using a small fleet of three Boeing 737-500s that have already been acquired and are currently undergoing pre-service maintenance in Jordan.
Established in September 1994 under the AirZena brand, the carrier initially provided charter flights to the United Arab Emirates, Italy, China, Egypt, India, Syria and regular scheduled flights to Austria. It was granted national carrier status in November 1999 and latterly the Georgian Airways title has been added.
According to Dr Arman Khachaturyan, chief executive officer, NCFA, the aviation landscape has completely changed following the adoption of the revised strategy and Armenia can now better compete on a stronger footing in the international market and attract more airlines into the country, boosting inbound and outbound travel.
