YEREVAN, July 9. /ARKA/. Armen Grigoryan, a political analyst, thinks the expensiveness of air tickets in Armenia is caused by the high taxes set by the government for aviation sector.

«The open air policy has produced negative results,» he said Thursday at a news conference.

The liberalization of this area implied by this policy was expected to lower taxes, but despite that duties in Armenia are highest in the region.



Grigoryan finds irrelevant the explanation that taxes are high because Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport is run by a private company.



«The main cause of the high prices for air tickets is state taxes,» he said. «For example, the study conducted by USAID in 2011 showed that Airbus 320 pays €28,500 for two hours of staying in Yerevan, while in Riga it pays €16,000,» he said.



Armenia's government has done absolutely nothing to put things right. As an example of the government's high-tax policy, Grigoryan pointed out 'payment for air', from which Shirak airport passengers exempted, but the share of Shirak airport is 5% in the country’s air passenger traffic.



The political analyst is convinced that if taxes in aviation are lowered, Armenia will attract low-cost airlines and the inflow of tourists into the country will considerably intensify, as it happened to Georgia.



On October 23, 2013, the Armenian government approved the program of provision of competitive long-term air transportation services in Armenia. The program was based on McKinsey & Company and Armenian National Competitiveness Foundation's joint study.



Zvartnots Airport is run by the Armenia – International Airports in accordance with a 30-year concessional management agreement sealed with Armenian government in 2001.



The company belongs to American International Airports, an Argentine company owned by Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentine entrepreneur of Armenian descent. --0---





17:28 09.07.2015