HEAVY FOG AGAIN DISRUPTS ARMENIAN AIR TRAFFIC
By Ruben Meloyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 8 2007

Flights to and from Yerevan resumed on Monday afternoon more than 24
hours after Armenia’s main international airport was effectively shut
down by heavy fog.

The resulting poor visibility in the capital and the adjacent Ararat
Valley forced Zvartnots airport to cancel all Sunday and early
Monday flights for safety considerations. The weather conditions were
compounded by heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures.

Officials said three Yerevan-bound planes had to land at Gyumri
airport in northwestern Armenia overnight. Several other airliners
made emergency landings in southern Russia, according to them.

"Nobody would take the risk to fly in such conditions," said Marzpetuni
Chomoyan, head of the airport’s meteorological service.

"That is why the airport was closed."

"The airport is open now," he told RFE/RL. "Both the visibility and
the minimum altitude of clouds are normal."

But the situation still did not return to normal as of Monday evening
as the airport administration and airlines struggled to organize
delayed flights that left hundreds of passengers stranded at Zvartnots.

"They don’t give us any assurances, but we are waiting to see what
happens," complained one young woman who waited for hours to take
her flight to Moscow.

Another, older woman was anxious to make the funeral one of her
relatives in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. "We’ve been
sitting here since last night," she said angrily. "They still won’t
tell us when we will finally fly."

Meanwhile, meteorologists forecast renewed foggy conditions for the
night from Monday to Tuesday. Chomoyan admitted that this will likely
force more flight delays the next morning.

Air traffic to and from Armenia was similarly disrupted for about
two weeks due to heavy fog in December 2005.