ARMENIA REGISTERS AIR COMPANIES WITHOUT FEES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
24.09.2009 00:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Air companies in Armenia are registered free of
charge, Chairman of Controls Chamber Ishkhan Zakaryan told today a
news conference. "Armenia’s current legislation does not stipulate
for any duties or fees for air company registration," he said.

Armenia has 12 registered air companies, of which 9 operate abroad and
3 – in Armenia. In that connection, Zakaryan noted that registration
of such air company might cost $ 382 million in UAE and over $ 1
billion in Britain. According to him, none of companies operating
abroad duly paid taxes in 2007-08. Thus, Taron air carrier which
exploited 1 airline in 2007 and 4 airlines in 2008 worked without
income in the above period and paid no taxes. "Tax payments of those
9 air companies totaled AMD 37.2 billion for 2007-08," he said.

As regards air carriers operating in Armenia, Armavia exploited 7
airlines in 2007 and 8 airlines in 2008 and paid taxes in the amount
of AMD 1.3 million. Air Armenian which exploited 5 airlines in 2007-08
paid AMD 212 million, while Armairo which possesses only 1 helicopter
paid a total sum of AMD 41.3 million, which exceeds the tax payments
of the above-mentioned 9 companies. "There are serious problems in
the sphere, so it is necessary to amend the relevant legislation,"
Zakaryan noted.