Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
December 1, 2017 Friday


Armenia-EU Common Aviation Zone deal to create predictable environment
for European airlines



YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The agreement on common aviation zone
with the European Union is a serious and comprehensive agreement and a
good tool to develop the field, attract new airlines to the Armenian
market, Anna Chobanyan – head of the Air transportation regulation
department at the General Department of Civil Aviation, told
ARMENPRESS commenting on the agreement initialed in Brussels on
November 24.

She said the agreement affirms all the principles enshrined by the
adoption of open sky policy in Armenia in late 2013. “The new
agreement with the EU is not only a serious legal tool to regulate the
market in terms of liberalization, but also it is a deal covering the
entire aviation field. In addition, the agreement defines that all
European standards in the civil aviation field will be installed in
Armenia. This will help us a lot during the talks and discussions with
the airlines since the airlines will already come to a predictable
environment as the same standard, like in Europe, will be used”, Anna
Chobanyan said.

She stated that the agreement doesn’t suppose any restrictions for the
airlines in terms of commercial activity and the airlines, while
making a decision to conduct an activity in Armenia, can be confident
that they can operate the market as they want, with the frequency they
want. The official highlighted the fact that according to this new
agreement liberalized relations in the aviation field will be
established with all EU member states, in other words there will be no
need to solve issues at bilateral level. “The Armenian airlines will
also have an opportunity to use Europe’s domestic market”, she said.

She clarified what it means installation of the best European
experience which is expected after joining the EU aviation zone. “The
field is regulated by respective agencies, there are certain
procedures which are already applied in the European countries, they
will also be adapted in Armenia. The talk is about the mutual
cooperation between the airlines, implementation of agreed actions,
use of market opportunities and etc”, she said.

As for the signing of the agreement, Anna Chobanyan couldn’t mention
the exact dates, but attached importance to the fact that the
negotiation process completed successfully.