Government Plane Operated by Company Owned by Sukiasyans, Reports Hetq

The government plane, which serves high-ranking officials of the Republic of Armenia, has been operated since September of last year by the Armenian-Moldovan airline "Fly One Armenia". This is reported by Hetq.

"29% of this company is owned by the ruling party member and businessman Khachatryan Sukiasyan's family. Specifically, 20% is owned by Sukiasyan's younger brother, Eduard Sukiasyan, while 9% is held by the 'SIL Capital' LLC, which is effectively owned by the Sukiasyans (officially, the owner of the company is another person, however, the chairman of the board is Eduard Sukiasyan). You can read more about the other owners of 'Fly One Armenia' here. Notably, 46% of it belongs to the Moldovan airline 'Fly One'.

Who previously operated the No. 1 aircraft? The No. 1 aircraft, or government (formerly presidential) plane, was acquired by Armenia in 2007. The 1998-produced "Airbus A319 ACJ" was imported to our country by the Ministry of Defense. On December 6, 2007, the Government decided to assign the aircraft to the Presidential Administration. However, since there is no separate aviation squad serving the country's leadership in Armenia, this state aircraft was handed over for operational purposes to the then national carrier 'Armavia'. Naturally, the airline was compensated from the state budget for this.

Prior to the acquisition of this aircraft, the president was served by a "Tu-134-A3" aircraft. Its operator was also 'Armavia'. On December 20, 2007, the Government decided to transfer the 'Tu-134' to 'Armavia' under a usage contract, which had to cover all expenses related to the aircraft and engines, maintenance, and insurance companies. 'Armavia' was to use this 'Tu-134' to serve state delegations traveling abroad (from the Presidential Administration, National Assembly, and Government). The airline operated the 'Tu-134' until 2010. We have reported on the future fate of this aircraft," the media outlet writes.