From Ryanair to Europe: the first European low-cost airline appears in Armenia

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has announced that it is launching flights from Armenia.

The first low-cost direct flights from Yerevan will begin in January 2020, offering routes to Rome and Milan. This was announced by David O’Brien, Commercial Director of Ryanair, at a press conference in Yerevan on October 16.

According to O’Brien, the low-cost airline is going to expand the number of flight offerings, but the company says it will not be offering destinations in the Russian Federation.

• Russian low-cost airline not to suspend flights to Armenia’s second biggest city

Geography and flight prices

In addition to Italian cities, from the summer of 2020 it will be possible to fly from Yerevan to Berlin at budget prices.

In addition to Europe, O’Brien says it will be possible to fly not only from the capital’s airport, but also to the second largest city in Armenia – Gyumri.

The commercial director of the airline also touched on the pricing policy of flights:

 “In all of the emerging areas, ticket prices will be fairly affordable, on average, at 35 euros.”

To compare prices, JAMnews has now tried to buy a one-way ticket online from Yerevan to Rome, scheduled for October 24: for one passenger, a one-way ticket costs about $280.

O’Brien stressed that the geography of flights will be constantly expanding, but Ryanair will not fly to Russia.

New directions will be exempt from aviation tax

Tatevik Revazyan, head of the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia, said that it was decided that new flights would be exempt from aviation taxes.

This was introduced by the Armenian government at the end of 2008.

After the introduction of the tax, still all passengers departing from Armenia are subject to an “air tax” of 10 thousand drams (about $20).  The amount is included in the ticket price of all but

• children under 12 years old;

• transit passengers;

• participants, invalids and veterans of World War II, widows who died in it;

• national heroes of Armenia and heroes of the Soviet Union.

The head of the Civil Aviation Committee believes that the introduction of this tax was an erroneous decision and prevents the appearance of new airlines in the Armenian market:

“I believe that taking into account the high cost of air tickets in Armenia, it is necessary to reduce service prices and taxes as much as possible, in particular, to exclude this tax.”

At the same time, she stipulated that at the moment it is these areas, and not some airlines, that are exempt from paying the “air tax”.

Meanwhile, the Russian low-cost airline Pobeda is raising its prices.

And now the company has announced that it will increase the price of flights from foreign airports to Russia by 40%.  Pobeda employee Elena Selivanova, explained that last winter the average price of a one-way ticket on the international carrier was 4,500 rubles (about 33 thousand drams, or 62 euros).  Now, another 25 euros will be added to this amount.

This rise in price, according to Selivanova, is connected with the decision of the Moscow City Court, which forbade the airline to charge passengers a fee of 25 euros for check-in at airport racks.

“In Russia, check-in is not a separate service and the fee for it is included in the general airport charges and ticket prices. But at foreign airports the fees are segregated, for registration at the front desk passengers are paid separately,” the representative of the Russian low-cost airline explained.

Prices will rise from October 28th.