After months of negotiations with the Armenian government, the Irish budget airline Ryanair announced on Wednesday that it will launch flights between Europe and Armenia in January.<\/p>\n
The company said it will initially fly from Yerevan to Milan and Rome four times a week. It pledged to open two more routes next summer: from Yerevan to Berlin and from Gyumri to the southern German city of Memmingen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese four new routes will further promote Armenian tourism, and will deliver over 130,000 customers annually to\/from two European countries to one of Europe\u2019s fastest-growing tourism destinations,\u201d said David O\u2019Brien, Ryanair\u2019s chief commercial officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can service from 86 different cities and airports, whereas our competitors offer far less opportunity for Armenia,\u201d O\u2019Brien told a joint news conference with Tatevik Revazian, the head of the Armenian government\u2019s Civil Aviation Committee, held at Yerevan\u2019s Zvartnots international airport.<\/p>\n
Revazian negotiated with Ryanair representatives in Dublin early this year before announcing in March that Ryanair is considering becoming the world\u2019s first budget airline to fly to Armenia. She said in July that the Irish carrier is seeking financial concessions from the Armenian side for that purpose.<\/p>\n
Revazian said on Wednesday that the Civil Aviation Committee has drafted a bill that would exempt Ryanair from a fixed $21 tax levied from every air ticket sold in the country. She was confident that the government will approve the bill and send it to the Armenian parliament next month.<\/p>\n
The government hopes that Ryanair\u2019s entry into the Armenian civil aviation market will cut the cost of air travel and attract more tourists to Armenia.<\/p>\n
Armenia\u2019s international air traffic has already grown rapidly since the liberalization of its civil aviation sector in 2013. The former Armenian government decided to switch to the so-called \u201copen skies\u201d policy following the bankruptcy of the Armavia national airline. The liberalization has led to lower ticket prices, giving a strong boost to the country\u2019s growing tourism industry.<\/p>\n
Ryanair\u2019s ticket prices are expected to be significantly lower than those of airlines already flying to Armenia.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyanair\u2019s average fare for all routes across the year is something like 35 euros ($38.5),\u201d noted O\u2019Brien. But he gave no concrete figures for its upcoming flights to Armenia.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo celebrate the launch of its first Armenian airports, Ryanair has launched a seat sale with fares from just \u20ac29.99, for travel until May 2020, which must be booked by midnight Friday,\u201d read a statement released by the company. It did not specify how much Ryanair customers will be charged after October 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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