Armenian Airlines & Georgian Airways to Launch Joint Flights to Europe

In April 2017, Armenian Airlines and Georgian Airways will begin carrying out joint flights to Europe. The project will include destinations such as London, Barcelona and Brussels.

"At the outset, the aircraft will travel with passengers from Tbilisi to Yerevan, and from Yerevan take on passengers heading to Brussels. To London, planes will fly on the same principle, but from Yerevan via Tbilisi," says the General Director of Armenia Airline, Robert Oganesyan.

Armenian Airlines will fly directly to Europe. Oganesyan says the idea is not new but the parties encountered various challenges in the application. Now though, they are set to fly.

Armenian Airlines founder Tamaz Gaiashvili notes that for a long time the company had faced problems with the threat of bankruptcy, which is why Georgian Airways were invited to invest.

Yet that bankruptcy is not yet fully solved: as Gaiashvili says, the open sky policy that the Armenian Government has is dangerous for countries such as Armenia and Georgia.

"There is criminal competition in the field of Armenian civil aviation. In Armenia, tickets are sold in Drams, then the Drams are converted and taken out of the country, with nothing coming in. It is one reason for the current inflation," he says.

Natia Liparteliani