Yerevan/Mediamax/. As a result of 4-day negotiations, Armavia air company and Zvartnots airport signed an agreement today according to which the air company undertook to clear off its current debt at the amount of USD5.3mln till late September.

Deputy Director General of “Armenian International Airports” (AIA)Andranik Shkhyan said today that AIA agreed with offers of Armavia and set new tariffs for the air company which will come into force on April 1, 2012, Mediamax reports

DOSSIER

Armavia vs Zvartnots

Armavia announced an open-ended strike on March 6 explaining it by price policy of the airport.

In its turn, “Armenian International Airports” reported that due to debts “Armavia” isn’t allowed to make flights to Russia.

As a result of the negotiations held on the very same day, “Armavia” flights were restored.

As a result of 4-day work of the task force established under the decree of the Armenian Prime Minister, the sides came to a consensus on clearing off “Armavia” debt.

Legal consultant of AIA Armen Ter-Tachatyan said that the new tariffs are 25% lower than the current ones on average.

Commenting on Armavia’s accusations that Zvartnots tariffs are higher than those of the European airports, Andranik Shkhyan said that the tariffs of the Armenian airports are competitive as compared to the tariffs of the Tbilisi and Baku airports and are lower than in many European airports.

“We are interested in working with an air company which is strong and has a distinct development policy, that’s why we made concessions. Zvartnots airport is meant for servicing 3.2mln passengers a year and now we ensure only the half of this volume and we don’t have transit passengers”, said Andranik Shkhyan.

He added that the payments to the airport make only 15% of expenses of any air company “and there are no grounds to accuse Zvartnots of Armavia’s tough financial situation”.