Which airline has been transporting cargo between Turkey and Armenia despite the ban?

On January 6, Turkish media reported that the issue of air cargo transportation obstacles between Turkey and Armenia has been resolved as a result of Armenian-Turkish negotiations. Accordingly, the Turkish Ministry of Trade informed local exporters that direct air cargo transportation between Turkey and Armenia has been possible since January 1, 2023. This was reported by Hetq.am.

On the same day, the spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Vahan Hunanyan, announced: “The Turkish side has notified us today that the ban on direct air cargo transportation has been lifted. We would like to remind that the implementation of direct air cargo transportation between Armenia and Turkey was one of the agreements reached during the meeting of special representatives on July 1, 2022.”

Hetq has asked the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee when Turkey had banned direct air cargo transportation with Armenia, and whether our country had imposed a similar ban on Turkey. In response, the Committee stated: “The Civil Aviation Committee is not aware of any ban imposed by Turkey on direct air cargo transportation with Armenia, considering that relations between Armenia and Turkey in the field of air communication are not regulated, and there has been no such ban from the Armenian side.”

This means that the Committee does not know what restrictions were in place previously, while on the other hand, Turkish media and the Armenian Foreign Ministry are announcing their removal. However, as we will see below, one of the Turkish airlines has already been engaged in cargo transportation between the two countries prior to these announcements.

The Committee informed Hetq that no airline conducting cargo transportation has applied to the Committee to implement cargo transportations between Armenia and Turkey. It should be noted that this refers specifically to cargo flights. It is important to remember that when carrying out any type of transportation (passenger, cargo, combined), both local and foreign airlines are required to apply to the Committee to obtain the necessary permissions.

Additionally, it should be noted that since February 2022, passenger transportations have been carried out between Yerevan and Istanbul by the Armenian airline “Fly One Armenia” and the Turkish airline “Pegasus Airlines.” We asked the Civil Aviation Committee whether these operators had also conducted cargo transport alongside passenger transport (i.e., combined air transport). The Committee responded that “Fly One Armenia” has not engaged in cargo transport, while “Pegasus Airlines” has carried out small-volume cargo transport as needed.

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