Air routes to be operated without state interference
The first stage of the negotiations between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union on the Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (Common Aviation Area between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union) has been kicked off. The negotiating group of the Armenian side will be headed by the Head of the General Department of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Armenia Sergey Avetisyan. (Members of the negotiating group are the Trade Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union V. Simonyan, Head of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia G. Ghalachyan, Head of the Juridical Department of the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Armenia A. Hovsepyan, Head of the Department of the European Union and World Trade Organization of the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia A. Maysuryan, Head of the Department of the Certification of Airports and Air Traffic Management of the General Department of Civil Aviation at the Government of the Republic of Armenia G. Poghosyan, Head of the Department of the Air Transportation Regulations of the Department of Civil Aviation at the Government of the Republic of Armenia A. Chobanyan and The deputy of the General Manager of the AIAA.Shkhyan). Negotiating delegation from the European Union side is headed by the Deputy Head of Unit for Aviation Agreements of the European Commission Klaus Geil, and includesPolicy Officer EwaZajdel, European Commission, representatives of EU Member States and industry, the Head of Political, Press and Information Section of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia Dirk Lorenz, Political Officer of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia Andrea Chalupova, International Aid/Cooperation Officer of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia LudovicCiechanowski and Trade Officer of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia Karen Azaryan. The Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia Ambassador Piotr Antoni Świtalski will also participate in the opening of the negotiations between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union on the Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement. In the frames of this agreement the Republic of Armenia will join the EU Common Aviation Area, and as a result the parties will liberalize the market, providing the airlines with the opportunity to operate the routes without any limitations and enjoy equal opportunities of servicing a market with a population of 500 million. The effective European standards will be introduced in the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian and foreign airlines will be provided with the opportunity to operate air routes based on commercial considerations without any limiting interference by the states. We should note that on 1 December of 2016 the Council of EU Transport Ministers adopted a mandate that allowed the European Commission to start negotiations with the Republic of Armenia.
