Turkish Airlines Flights Over Armenian Airspace Not a New Development: Civil Aviation on Azerbaijan-Nakhchivan Flight

For the first time in 30 years, a passenger aircraft from Azerbaijan has executed a domestic flight over Armenian airspace. This is evidenced by data from the Flight Radar platform.

According to reports, a Boeing 737 belonging to Turkish Airlines carried out flight TK326 from Ganja to Nakhchivan on September 4. The aircraft took off from Ganja at 9:57 (5:57 UTC) and landed in Nakhchivan at 10:32 (6:32 UTC). The flight lasted 35 minutes and the aircraft flew over Lake Sevan and the Gegharkunik region of Armenia.

This information was reported by the news agency «Вестник Кавказа». Auroranews contacted David Sarukhanyan, the head of the Civil Aviation’s Airports Certification and Air Traffic Organization Directorate.

«We have been guided by the provisions of the Chicago Convention, which states that member states cannot close their airspace without justification; therefore, Armenia's airspace is open to all. Turkish Airlines has operated flights through Armenian airspace before. Thus, the assertion that this is the first flight in 30 years is not true in this specific context. If the discussion is about the specific flight from Ganja to Nakhchivan, I don’t understand the significance of this, as Turkish Airlines has been flying through our airspace regardless. Furthermore, Armenia apparently has not closed its airspace to any country», Sarukhanyan noted.