Azerbaijan Will Transfer Money to Armenia Indirectly

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that Azerbaijan will transfer money to Armenia indirectly for flights using Armenian airways. The newspaper had sent an inquiry to the Civil Aviation Committee to find out how much the Azerbaijani airline AZAL has transferred to the Armenian side for the flight conducted over Armenian airspace on October 6. In response to our inquiry, the committee sent a response resembling Chinese hieroglyphs.

"In response to your inquiry, we inform you that, according to the multilateral agreement on 'Payment of Charges for Air Route Services' ratified by Armenia, since March 1, 2009, the collection of charges for all transit flights conducted over the territory of Armenia, including those of the Azerbaijani airline AZAL, is carried out by the central office of the 'Eurocontrol' international organization for route charges. Furthermore, according to the document ‘Conditions of Application of Air Traffic Tariff System and Payment Conditions’ appendix number 2, the duration of the collection process for the air navigation service charges for flights performed in the reporting month lasts approximately 2.5 to 3 months," the official correspondence from the committee stated.

The array of technical terms and phrases could be deciphered if it weren't for the keyword 'Eurocontrol.' It turns out that under the international multilateral agreement concerning the use of air routes, which Armenia is also a signatory to, states do not transfer money directly to each other for using the air routes, but rather do so indirectly. All airlines from various countries submit requests to operate flights, and later also transfer funds to the 'Eurocontrol' company located in Brussels, which determines the amount due for using the air route. After conducting the flight, the airline transfers the money to the aforementioned Belgian company within 2-3 months.

'Eurocontrol' then sends it to the country whose air route was utilized by the airline. In other words, the Azerbaijani airline will transfer the money to Armenia indirectly through 'Eurocontrol.' Sector specialists mentioned in a conversation with us that the amount of such a payment is not large, approximately 1 dollar is paid for 1 km of air route. Therefore, the Azerbaijani airline is expected to transfer around 200 dollars for using Armenian airspace.

For more details, refer to today's issue of the newspaper.