Fly Arna’s Only Aircraft Flies to Sharjah and is Removed from Armenian Registry: What’s Next for the Carrier?

The only aircraft of the Armenian National Airlines (known as Fly Arna), which had been grounded at Zvartnots Airport since January 16, flew to Sharjah on February 26. According to the list published today by the Civil Aviation Committee, this aircraft is absent, meaning it has been removed from the Armenian registry.

It should be noted that until November 2023, Fly Arna had two Airbus A320 aircraft, registered in Armenia as EK-YRB and EK-YRC. On November 9, EK-YRC departed Yerevan for Sharjah, and by the end of that month, it was de-registered from the Armenian registry and subsequently entered the UAE registry, joining Air Arabia's fleet (with the Arabic registration A6-AQH). Currently, A6-AQH operates flights under the Arab carrier.

Essentially, on February 26, EK-YRB also flew to Sharjah, where Air Arabia is based. Since, as mentioned, it has also been removed from the Armenian aircraft registry, it follows the same path as EK-YRC. This implies that the aircraft is likely to soon be registered in another country, presumably in the UAE, under Air Arabia or one of its subsidiaries.

Fly Arna is a result of Armenian-Arabic cooperation, with 49% ownership belonging to the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF), a state fund, and the other 49% owned by the Arabic International Business Company (FZE), which is linked to Air Arabia. In fact, this Arab carrier can be considered a shareholder of Fly Arna. The remaining 2% belongs to Varuzhan Nergizyan, an Armenian businessman from Lebanon and a representative of business circles in the UAE, Lebanon, and other Middle Eastern countries.

It is worth recalling that since the end of last year, black clouds have been gathering over Fly Arna and its Armenian founder, ANIF. In December and January, there were personnel changes at ANIF; the board of directors was changed, with Deputy Minister of Economy Ani Ispliryan becoming its chair. Shortly thereafter, Ispliryan was dismissed and became a defendant in a criminal case, which, however, is unrelated to ANIF.

Nonetheless, there is also a criminal case regarding ANIF, initiated under the article concerning abuse of official authority or related influence in the private sector. The investigation is being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Committee. The newly formed ANIF board removed David Papazyan from the executive director position in January, temporarily appointing employee Tigran Ghazaryan in his place.

At the end of 2023, the founders of Fly Arna increased the company’s charter capital from 6 billion drams to 8 billion. In January, ANIF informed Hetq that this was due to “certain financial issues” that arose within the airline. The fund did not respond to our inquiry as to why the airline has not operated flights since January 16.

We also requested a comment regarding reports in the Armenian media that issues had arisen between ANIF and Air Arabia concerning the implementation of agreements regarding Fly Arna, but there has been no response. ANIF also conveyed to Hetq that the Armenian carrier has refunded the ticket costs to passengers of canceled flights and assured that no passenger has suffered regarding ticket refunds.

We asked the fund whether we should expect a restoration of Fly Arna flights. If so, when is this expected? ANIF only mentioned that work is currently underway (in January) to resume the sale of airline tickets, adding that further detailed information regarding Fly Arna's activities would be provided soon. To date, the fund has not offered clarifications.

It should be noted that EK-YRB was registered in Armenia in September 2022, and EK-YRC was registered in December of the same year. Both registrations were valid for five years, until 2027. However, events led to EK-YRC being removed from the Armenian registry one year later, and EK-YRB one and a half years later.

Despite Fly Arna not operating flights since January 16, its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) is valid until 2039. However, since the last aircraft, EK-YRB, has also been removed from the Armenian registry, a problem arises. The issue is that an airline with an AOC must either own or rent at least one aircraft or have a leasing agreement; otherwise, its AOC will be suspended for a maximum of 60 days, during which time the carrier must take steps to meet the legal requirements mentioned. If the requirements are not met, its certificate will be deemed void. Without an AOC, no carrier can operate commercial flights.

According to data from the State Revenue Committee, the Armenian National Airlines remains a functioning legal entity as of today. In January, ANIF reported to Hetq that there had been no layoffs in the airline over the last 2-3 months, whereas prior to that, the fund had stated that Fly Arna provides more than 125 jobs.