«Armenia» Delays Flights, Passengers Are Brought Back by Egyptian Air Cairo

The Armenia airline has been operating flights with just one aircraft for several months due to sanctions stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war, affecting the leasing of its other planes from European-registered companies. This is the reason for the airline's inability to carry out flights on time, leading to passenger dissatisfaction, especially among those traveling to Egypt for vacations.

Travel agencies are suffering significant losses, having to arrange for their clients' return to Armenia with other airlines, mainly using Air Cairo's planes. It is noteworthy that the Armenia airline had a fairly good reputation, but it is now selling tickets without being able to transport its passengers on time. Meanwhile, there was a time when Armenia was assisting FlyOne Armenia when it faced problems.

Currently, Armenian citizens who traveled to the Egyptian resort of Hurghada on August 17 are among those facing issues. In a conversation with us, Naida Grigoryan, the director of the Station Tour travel agency, said that passengers who flew to Hurghada via Armenia on August 2 were supposed to return on August 16 at 12:30 PM, but instead returned on the night of the 17th to the 18th at 2:30 AM, on an aircraft of the Egyptian airline Air Cairo.

The same problem has also affected passengers who traveled this week, who were supposed to be flown to Hurghada by Armenia on August 16 at 9:40 AM, but were delayed by a day, effectively losing an entire day of their vacation. Now, there’s a notification stating that the flight will be rescheduled to nearly 30 hours earlier.

“Our passengers were supposed to return on the night of the 23rd or early on the 24th, but now the return has been scheduled for the night of the 22nd without informing anyone, and we find out at the last minute. This means that the passenger is supposed to check out of the hotel today. As a travel agency, it puts us in a difficult position because we can't provide a specific time and date for the return, especially when the customer has paid for seven days but ends up staying just five days while wasting two additional days for the flight and hotel, which is quite expensive. It feels like the tourism sector is being deceived at this moment. Armenia has no aircraft, cannot perform the flight, and is flying Air Cairo to ensure our clients are not left without a hotel,” Grigoryan presented the issue.

We also spoke with Gevorg Khachatryan, the deputy director of Armenia Airlines, who noted that customers have had difficulty contacting them lately. “No passenger has been left behind; we have not abandoned anyone. There has never been a precedent like this, and there won't be one. Wherever possible, since 2020, when COVID-19 was present, we have had 1500 vouchers, and today there is not a single passenger who has not traveled with Armenia Airlines according to their voucher. It is a force majeure situation; the airline has not suddenly decided to delay the flight or create problems for itself,” Khachatryan said, explaining that due to sanctions, all aircraft that flew to Russia have been repossessed by European leasing companies, which he also mentioned in a Facebook post. He indicated that this is a consequence of the same issue.

“Currently, one aircraft cannot operate flights in so many directions, which has created this problem, therefore we are performing flights with delays,” he added. In this case, wouldn’t it be better to remove one of the routes and focus on just one to ensure timely service? Khachatryan was surprised by the suggestion, stating, “No, of course not; all flights must be conducted, as we have obligations to passengers—we cannot remove one flight and create a difference between passengers. All flights will be performed, albeit with specific delays.” Khachatryan concluded by stating that their airline has compensated 1500 passengers, covering the costs for hotels and tickets. If anyone claims they have not been compensated for their losses, they are welcome to seek legal recourse.