Prime Minister's Office Keeps Secret the Cost of the Plane that Took Pashinyan to the US: "Hetq" Reveals It

The Prime Minister's Office has not disclosed the amount spent on renting a private jet that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used to fly to the United States in September to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The office cited state secrecy as a justification, but "Hetq" has determined how much funds have allegedly been allocated from the state budget for the plane rental.

On September 21, Pashinyan flew from Yerevan to New York using business class services from Maltese airline “AirX Charter.” The aircraft in question is the Brazilian-made “Embraer Lineage 1000” (Maltese registration: 9H-FAB, see the main photo).

The day before, on the 20th, the Prime Minister made a decision to send a government delegation to the US. The head of his office, Arayik Harutyunyan, was tasked with organizing the flight from Yerevan to New York (September 21) and the return from New York to Yerevan (September 24). The Armenian Civil Aviation Committee was supposed to assist Harutyunyan in this matter.

The reasoning behind selecting the Maltese company “AirX Charter” has not been disclosed by the Prime Minister's staff. It is a fact that its “Embraer Lineage 1000” aircraft arrived in Yerevan from Düsseldorf, Germany, on the night of September 21, following the Armenian delegation.

According to the Prime Minister’s aforementioned decision, nine people flew from Yerevan to New York on the 21st. The head of the official visits division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already departed for the US on September 14. Additionally, the Armenian Ambassador to the US, Lilit Makunts, and the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, Mher Margaryan, were to join the delegation in the US. It is noteworthy that names of employees from the NSS State Protection Service are not listed among the delegation's members, but it is hard to believe that Pashinyan did not have any security personnel accompanying him.

Regardless, as can be seen on the official website of “AirX Charter,” the “Embraer Lineage 1000” has a capacity for 19 passengers, meaning it is officially more spacious than the confirmed delegation size.

On the night of September 21, about an hour and a half after arriving at Zvartnots, 9H-FAB departed for Shannon Airport in Ireland.

Many flights heading to the US use this airport for refueling. The flight carrying Pashinyan landed in Ireland on the night of the 22nd and then headed across the Atlantic Ocean towards New York, reaching John F. Kennedy International Airport on the night of the 22nd New York time (the morning of September 22 in Yerevan).

About an hour after dropping the Armenian delegation, the aircraft departed for Philadelphia, which is 130 km away from New York.

From September 22-23, Nikol Pashinyan held a series of meetings at the UN and also delivered a speech at the 77th session of the General Assembly on September 22.

Instead of flying back from New York to Yerevan, the delegation's return flight commenced from Philadelphia.

The aforementioned decision of the Prime Minister suggests that the returning delegation consisted of 7 people (once again, there is no information about the security detail). Here, too, it is important to note that the “Embraer Lineage 1000” can accommodate 19 people, meaning it has the capability for double or triple the size of a delegation consisting of 7-9 members.

The Prime Minister's Office does not explain why a larger aircraft was rented than the number of delegation members.

It should be noted that the business class aircraft comes in various capacities.

As mentioned, the September 24 return flight was supposed to be from New York to Yerevan. However, the 9H-FAB that departed from Philadelphia after refueling in Shannon on the night of September 25 did not return to Yerevan but instead flew to Paris, to Le Bourget Airport.

Thus, on September 25, Pashinyan was in Paris, but the fact that he arrived in France for a working visit and was to meet with President Emmanuel Macron was only made known to the public the next day, on Monday. Moreover, the first to announce the meeting was the Élysée Palace, followed by the Prime Minister’s office.

Judging from the change in the previously planned route (as mentioned in the Prime Minister's decision), we can say that an agreement was reached regarding the Pashinyan-Macron meeting after September 20.

On the night of September 26, the Armenian delegation returned to Yerevan from Paris. However, this time it was not the Maltese “Embraer Lineage 1000” that transported the Prime Minister and his entourage, but rather the Armenian government aircraft, an “Airbus A319.”

The government plane had been waiting for over 2 days for the Armenian delegation.

Indeed, the government aircraft had already left Yerevan for Le Bourget at noon on September 24 and was waiting there until the night of the 26th.

It is unknown whether the “Airbus A319” transported passengers to Paris for the Pashinyan-Macron meeting (there was no relevant government decision to send someone to France during this time), or just flew empty to bring back the delegation from the US to Armenia. Regardless, staying at the airport for over 2 days and ensuring the accommodation of the flight crew incurs costs from the Armenian state budget.

We write this because in September 2019, when Nikol Pashinyan’s delegation traveled to the US again on a rented business class jet, approximately 350,000 dollars were spent on just the rental, which raised several questions, such as why a part of the route wasn’t completed by the Armenian government plane (from Armenia to a Western European airport from where a transatlantic flight would be performed by another aircraft), the justification being that the government plane had to wait at that transit airport for the delegation's return while simultaneously ensuring the accommodation of the crew during that time. It appears that now moves are being made that were previously considered extravagant.

But this is not the only and primary difference between past and current practices.

Three years ago, state secrets could be made public, now why not?

As mentioned, in September 2019, Prime Minister Pashinyan flew to the US with his delegation. During that time, the Armenian side rented a business class aircraft of “Gulfstream G550” type from the Austrian company “Avcon Jet” (aircraft's Austrian registration: OE-ISN).

Whose plane did Pashinyan use to fly to the US, or who made a tidy sum from the Prime Minister’s trip?

We recall that from September 21-26, 2019, the “Gulfstream G550” went through the following route: Gyumri-Shannon-Los Angeles-San Jose-New Jersey-Yerevan. In other words, both the traveled distance and the number of days the aircraft was at Pashinyan's delegation’s disposal were greater than this time.

It should be noted that this “Gulfstream G550” was also designed for 19 passengers.

Moreover, when information appeared in the Armenian media that the rental from the Austrian company cost 300,000-400,000 dollars, Pashinyan’s then-spokesman Vladimir Karapetyan declared on his Facebook page that, “Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s working visit to the US was carried out via a charter flight, through a private company. The total amount allocated for organizing the visit may reach a maximum of 165 million drams (about 350 thousand dollars – ed.).” In 2019, we asked Edvard Aghajanyan, who was the head of the Prime Minister's office at that time, how much had been spent from the state budget solely for renting the “Gulfstream G550” aircraft. The response was given by the then acting head of the information and public relations department, Armen Khachatryan, who stated that the cost of the plane rental amounted to 165,945,000 drams (about 350 thousand dollars).

Why couldn't Pashinyan fly to the US on a government aircraft which is capable of crossing the ocean?

Three years later, we asked the same type of question to the current head of the Prime Minister's Office, Arayik Harutyunyan, and this time the response was also provided by the head of the information and public relations department, Armen Khachatryan.

We asked him to indicate how much had been allocated from the state budget for the organization of the Yerevan-New York (September 21, 2022) and New York-Yerevan (September 24, 2022) flights for Pashinyan’s delegation. On what basis was the Maltese “AirX Charter” airline and specifically the “Embraer Lineage 1000” aircraft, which is designed for 19 people, selected as the transporter, while the composition of the Armenian delegation confirmed in the Prime Minister’s decision dated September 20, 2022, is smaller?

What procedure was followed to purchase transportation services from the airline? If a single source procurement procedure was applied, what was the justification?

In 2019, the amount for the aircraft rental was not a secret, now the Office and department head Armen Khachatryan have remembered that its disclosure would contravene the law.

Thus, Khachatryan disclosed that Article 15 of the “Procurement Law,” adopted in 2016, states that “Procurements containing state secrets include… the expenses for the provision of protocol arrangements, accommodation, food, and transportation services of officials outlined in part 2 of Article 5 of the law on the provision of security to specially protected state persons.” On the other hand, the provisions of the 2003 law on the provision of security to specially protected state persons define the protected objects, including the Prime Minister of Armenia. This means that the goods and services obtained through protocol expenses for the Prime Minister, as well as accommodation, food, and transport services, are included in the procurement plan containing state secrets, which are not subject to publication.

The question arises, how was it that Pashinyan's former spokesman V. Karapetyan and the same A. Khachatryan revealed state secrets in the fall of 2019 without recalling the regulations in the “Procurement Law”? Was it in response to media allegations about the rental amount at that time, or more importantly, to present the new authority as democratic, transparent, and accountable? What has changed in these years?

In February 2018, when Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan flew from Yerevan to Zurich (for the World Economic Forum in Davos) using the business-class “Gulfstream G650” aircraft owned by businessman Samvel Karapetyan, then President Serzh Sargsyan’s office referred us to the same law regarding the confidentiality of such expenditures. At the time, the President did not deny that he had accepted services from Samvel Karapetyan, violating the law.

It was hard to believe that both Samvel Karapetyan and the Maltese company operating the aircraft were making money from the flight arrangements for Sargsyan. Nonetheless, when we questioned how much was paid for the service of the “Gulfstream G650,” the Presidential Office announced, “Considering that part 2 of Article 15 of the Procurement Law states that information about the protocol expenses, accommodation, food, and transport services for protected individuals is included in the procurement plan of information that contains state secrets, the information you requested is not subject to publication.”

In other words, four years after coming to power, Pashinyan’s office does not make information public, citing the same justification as Sargsyan's office before. In other words, Nikol Pashinyan has comfortably settled into the same suit of the former authorities that he had often criticized when he was in opposition.

The costs of purchasing souvenirs are also not subject to publication, while other expenditures amounted to 24 million drams.

In a decision dated September 20, Pashinyan instructed that expenses related to the 9-member delegation traveling to New York, along with representative and transportation rental expenses, be covered by the foreign affairs funds set aside for the Prime Minister's office. (The ministry’s expenses for the trip of an employee already in the US were to be covered by the ministry’s state protocol funds), while the costs of purchasing souvenirs were to be covered by the Prime Minister's office's funds for representative expenses.

In response to our inquiry regarding the total expenditures from the state budget for the delegation's trip to the US, Pashinyan's office stated that the souvenir expenses had been made from the Prime Minister's protocol budget, meaning they were included in the procurement plan containing state secrets and are thus not subject to publication. Therefore, the Prime Minister's office did not disclose how much was spent on the rental of the “Embraer Lineage 1000” aircraft and the purchase of souvenirs.

“Regarding the other expenses related to the delegation’s trip (daily allowances, lodging, transport rental, meals), we inform you that the total amount is 23,913,169 drams,” stated the Prime Minister's office. Currently, this figure equals approximately 60,000 dollars or 62,000 euros.

How much would it cost to rent the “Embraer Lineage 1000”? Pashinyan and his delegation were transported from Yerevan to New York and from Philadelphia to Paris on a “Embraer Lineage 1000” aircraft registered as 9H-FAB of the Maltese airline “AirX Charter.” According to the Maltese carrier's website, it has three such aircraft in its fleet (9H-FAB, 9H-FCM, 9H-NYC). The first two are “twins,” having the same technical parameters. The maximum flight duration for 9H-FAB and 9H-FCM is 9 hours, accommodating up to 19 passengers with 1-2 cabin crew members, while onboard amenities include satellite phone service, a microwave, a heater (for warming food), a television, and an entertainment system, with pets allowed onboard.

According to aviation records, the aircraft that transported the Prime Minister was handed over to the Chinese company “Minsheng International Jet” in April 2014, after production in Brazil. Two years later, in 2016, it was operated by another Chinese airline, “Yalian Business Jet.” That same year, the aircraft was handed over to the Chinese company “Sparkle Roll Jet” (SR Jet). While used by them, the aircraft was painted with the emblem of Hollywood star Jackie Chan’s signature red dragon. The aircraft served Chan, who is an ambassador for the Brazilian brand “Embraer.” Notably, Chan owns other types of planes produced by this manufacturer. In December 2019, B-3219 was deregistered from China and registered in Malta as 9H-FAB under “AirX Charter.”

After the Prime Minister's office denied to disclose how much had been allocated from the state budget for the plane rental, we reached out to one of the Armenian businessmen in the diaspora who clarified with “AirX Charter” how much it would cost to rent the “Embraer Lineage 1000” if it were to fly from Yerevan to New York, and two days later from New York to Paris with 10 passengers onboard and during the entire trip being at the disposal of the client. In other words, under conditions nearly identical to those of the Armenian delegation’s trip to the US and then to Paris. The Armenian businessman was offered the twin of 9H-FAB, 9H-FCM, which, as noted earlier, has the same technical specifications. Under the conditions mentioned, the Maltese carrier's financial proposal for the Yerevan-New York-Paris flight amounted to 235,000 euros (including the refueling at the Irish Shannon Airport during the Yerevan-New York flight), which equals about 90 million drams. However, it must be noted that the aircraft that transported the Armenian delegation also made a technical stop in Shannon when returning from the US. Therefore, we can say that 235,000 euros is the approximate minimum price for the rental of the aircraft that transported Pashinyan.

If we add to the aircraft rental cost the expenses paid for daily allowances, accommodation, transport, and meals for the delegation members, totaling around 24 million drams, it will amount to approximately 114 million drams paid from the state budget for the Prime Minister's delegation trip to the US, which at the current rate equals about 294,000 dollars or 296,000 euros. This also needs to be added to the cost of souvenirs purchased, which the Prime Minister's office has once again failed to disclose.