Dubai: Sharjah-based Air Arabia and Armenian National Interests Fund on Wednesday said that their new airline will be called ‘Fly Arna’.

In July, Air Arabia said it was tying up with Armenia’s investment fund to launch Armenia’s new national airline. The new carrier will serve the "strategic vision of Armenia’s fast-growing travel and tourism sector as well as contribute to the country’s economic growth," said the joint venture partners in an earlier statement.

Following a comprehensive review, the name of the airline was chosen as ‘Fly Arna’ – with the word ‘Arna’ being derived from the name “Armenian National Airlines” by combining the first two letters of the words "ARmenian" with the first letter of "National" and the first letter of "Airlines".

“Despite the current challenges of the pandemic, we are confident of the new opportunity that exists for Fly Arna to deliver a winning proposition that will benefit the nation and our people,” said David Papazian, CEO of ANIF.

“Fly Arna will mark the beginning of a new era for Armenia’s aviation sector, and also create significant value to the economy by boosting the tourism, hospitality and business sectors,” said Adel Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer of Air Arabia.

Fly Arna will operate as a low-cost passenger airline with Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport (EVN) as its base. The company will apply for the airline operation certificate (AOC) in the coming weeks.

More details about the launch date, fleet, and destination network will be announced in due course, said the statement.