The EU’s executive body, the European Commission, blacklisted them in June 2020 after assessing the country’s “safety oversight capabilities.”
The EU’s Aviation Safety Agency recommended the ban because of what it views as Armenian authorities’ failure to ensure adequate licensing of domestic airlines. The Armenian government pledged to address its concerns about flight safety.
Mihran Khachatrian, the head of the government’s Civil Aviation Committee, claimed on Wednesday that EU aviation inspectors were “delighted” with relevant measures taken by his agency when they visited Armenia in September.
“They were surprised that we have made huge progress,” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The European officials reported only “limited progress” made by Yerevan following the trip, however. They said that the EU ban should therefore remain in place for now.
“They say that in order to be able to fly to Europe we need to have inspectors certified in accordance with European standards,” explained Khachatrian. “There are no such inspectors in Armenia right now.”
He said the government is planning to have Armenian aviation specialists trained and certified in Europe.
“We have just signed a contract so that our specialists undergo necessary training from January through April [2023,] added the government official.
Khachatrian cautioned, though, that the EU is unlikely to remove Armenia from the blacklist before 2024.
When the EU imposed the ban there were seven small airlines registered in Armenia. Only one of them flew to Europe at the time.
Two other, larger carriers have been set up in the country since then. One of them is a subsidiary of the Moldovan low-cost airline FlyeOne. Its current flight destinations include Paris and Milan.