Armenia achieves new successes on its path to becoming an air transit hub

Armenia is recording new successes on its path to becoming a transit route in the air transportation sector. According to data from Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport, in 2018-2019, only 36 passengers used Armenia as a transit country. In 2024, this number exceeded 172,000, and as of March 11 this year, 14,542 passengers had already transited through Armenia.

In an interview with Armenpress, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia Armen Simonyan noted that the majority of transit passenger flow was handled by local airlines.

"Local airlines play an important and decisive role in increasing the number of transit passengers, as they have the opportunity to use Armenian airports as transit points to transport passengers from a third country to another. Many other airlines do not have this option, as they are not registered in Armenia. In other words, if an airline not registered in our country operates a flight from a third country to Armenia, it cannot continue to another country due to intergovernmental agreements in the field of air transportation," Simonyan explained.

Despite the increase in transit passenger numbers in recent years, further efforts are needed to establish Armenia as a transit country.

"I see the solution to this issue in two parts: first, infrastructure - there must be proper facilities to efficiently serve these transit flows. Work is already underway to expand Zvartnots Airport. Second, the attraction of new airlines and the development of local carriers," the deputy minister said.

Commenting on how the increase in flights in recent years has affected ticket pricing, Simonyan noted that airfare prices depend on several factors.

"Relations in this sector are market-based. Airfares are primarily determined by airlines, taking into account demand for a particular destination, competition, and operating costs," he said.

As for new destinations expected in 2025, Simonyan noted that they are mainly determined by demand for flights from new countries to Armenia and from Armenia to new destinations.

He also emphasized that there are no difficulties in launching new flights to Armenia or introducing new destinations.

Applications for charter flights and, from 2025, scheduled passenger flights are already accepted entirely electronically.