‘ARMAVIA; COMPANY FORECASTS 13% GROWTH IN PASSENGER OPERATIONS IN 2008

ArmInfo
2008-09-30 22:12:00

ArmInfo. In 2008, "Armavia" CJSC, the national air carrier of Armenia,
will increase the number of passenger operations by approximately
13% (as against 572300 in 2007), Mikhail Bagdasarov, the owner of
"Armavia" CJSC, told journalists during the event dedicated to the
75th anniversary of Armenian civil aviation, Tuesday.

According to him, this is not a bad index of growth and it is the
company’s undoubted success, if one takes into account the fact
that many air carriers suffer losses due to decline in the volume of
operations. At the beginning of the year the company was planning 20%
growth, however, the international crisis in aviation caused by fuel
price boost restrained this growth, Bagdasarov said. He pointed out
that in Jan-Sep 2008 about 480 thsd passengers were carried, this index
being by 12.9% higher than in the same period of 2007. Bagdasarov said
that the growth in 2008 is guaranteed due to opening of 5 new flights.

The company’s owner thinks that the year 2009 will also be
favorable for "Armavia" as the international prices of fuel are
dropping. Zvartnots Airport is still using expensive jet fuel for
the aircrafts, but in the near future cheaper fuel will be used,
fueling prices will fall and the air ticket prices will fall, too. He
expressed hope that the ticket prices will decrease also due to the
decline or abolition of the "air tax" worth 10 thsd AMD.

Within the next two years the company is going to increase the
number of its planes to 16-17 as against present 9, as well as to
open flights to the United States, China, India, Great Britain,
Italy and Spain in 2008.