Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a remote consultation on the current situation and development prospects in the field of civil aviation. Armenian Civil Aviation Committee (CAC) Head Tatevik Revazyan partook in the discussion via video link.

Tatevik Revazyan briefed the Premier on the processes underway in the sphere. She reported that a meeting of the European Flight Safety Team was held on May 12, 2020. As a result of the findings made public following the EU experts’ assessment visit in February this year, a decision was made to put all aircraft operators registered in Armenia on the EU Flight Safety List.

According to the European Commission and the EU Flight Safety Committee, improper control and incomplete certification by the RA Civil Aviation Committee is the reason behind said decision, which restricts the right of Armenia-registered air carriers to fly to Europe (except for evacuation flights, flights for humanitarian and medical purposes). It should be noted that the affected airlines may operate flights to other countries. At the same time, the decision will not affect the implementation of flights by international airlines in EU-Armenia and Armenia-EU destinations.

Tatevik Revazyan stressed that since the European Flight Safety Team’s November 20, 2019 meeting, the CAC has been implementing consistent action to increase flight safety level in Armenia. She advised that the above decision could be reconsidered in November, 2022, noting that highly appreciative of the Armenian government’s commitment to improving the flight safety level, the EU aviation authorities had expressed readiness for cooperation.

Prime Minister Pashinyan said the Civil Aviation Committee should work out a roadmap for remedial action by 2022 within a short period of time. The Prime Minister stressed that steps should be taken not only to improve the level of flight safety, but also to enhance domestic operators’ competitiveness on the way to developing civil aviation in Armenia.

A number of other issues related to the reform of the Civil Aviation Committee were discussed during the consultation. The need for involving qualified specialists, implementing institutional, legislative and technical improvements was emphasized during the consultation.

The CAC chairwoman said the Committee has already taken stock of and diagnosed the problems and relevant solutions are being worked out at this point of time. Nikol Pashinyan gave her two weeks to develop and submit a civil aviation committee reform action plan in cooperation with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.