Armenian Authorities Remain Silent

Armenia did not send investigators to the crash site and neither did experts from the Ilyushin Design Bureau, which designed the aircraft. From Russia, Ilyushin filed a preliminary report which notes poor weather conditions but lists no potential cause for the crash.

Shahen Petrosyan, head of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia from 1993 to 1996, said Armenian representatives go to crash sites only in relatively non-serious cases. According to Petrosyan, when there are victims and potential criminal charges, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), an organization made up of experts from Armenia and other former Soviet Union countries who now belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), travel to the crash site and investigate. But if the plane was no longer considered an Armenian-registered aircraft, the IAC would have no mandate to investigate. The IAC has not investigated or commented on the crash.

Registered in Armenia, They Operate Overseas

Eleven companies are registered with the General Department of Civil Aviation (GDCA). They are:

• Armavia Air Company LLC,

• Atlantis European Airways LLC,

• Ark Airways LLC,

• Air Armenia CJSC,

• Ayk Avia Air Company CJSC,

• Reliable Unique Services Aviation LLC,

• South Airlines LLC,

• Skiva Air LLC,

• Sky Net Airline LLC,

• Veteran Avia LLC,

• Taron-Avia LLC

Many of these operate overseas, mostly in Africa and the United Arab Emirates. In 2009, Ishkhan Zakaryan, President of the Armenia Control Chamber, whose responsibility is to independently investigate government activity, said that both Armenian and foreign airline companies register in Armenia since it is free. In addition, Zakraryan said companies registered in Armenia but operating overseas pay low taxes to the Armenian government. According to figures from the Armenia State Revenue Committee, the only Armenia-based airline that made it onto the 2012 list of the 1,000 top taxpayers was Armavia, which came in 326th after paying $286 million in taxes.

Armenia-Based Airplanes Change Registration

As of January 2012, the UAE had prohibited planes bearing the EK (Armenian) national brand to land except for passenger airplanes Armavia operated. Armenia-based planes can only pass through UAE air space. Pilot Armen Mnatsakanyan says that this same UAE ban applies to Kazakh, Moldovan and Tajik planes. As of March 2012, 18 planes with EK coding appeared on http://talks.milkavkaz.net, a forum that discusses aviation topics. The information displayed on the forum was taken from Ilyushin official website. One year later, that number dropped to eight. When it became known that the UAE had banned Armenian planes, aviation-related forums were abuzz with talk that many airplanes would be registered in other countries in the near future. This seems to have happened.

The table below shows the registration changes that have been made since March 2012.

RUS Aviation and Phoenix Avia are based in the UAE city of Sharjah. The same holds true for Skiva Air and South Airlines, companies with Armenian operating licenses.

Foreigners Also Own Airline Companies

Below is information from the State Registry on companies licensed to operate airplanes in Armenia. Airline companies periodically operate, shut down or reorganize.