Our airline startup of the week is FLYONE Armenia, the Armenian subsidiary of Moldova's airline FLYONE. The airline is already selling tickets for its first several routes. The maiden flight is scheduled for the 15th December.
October 2021: FLYONE Armenia gets an AOC
The story of FLYONE Armenia, Armenia's youngest airline and one of a handful of airlines launching during a pandemic, begins in 2021.
On 29th October 2021, the Public Radio of Armenia announced that the Civil Aviation Authority of Armenia had granted a National Air Operator Certificate to FLYONE Armenia.
FLYONE Armenia was created as a legal entity just several months earlier by FLYONE, a low-cost airline from Moldova that is privately owned and which has been operating out of Chișinău International Airport (KIV) since 2016.
FLYONE Armenia has based itself in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, at Zvartnots International Airport (EVN).
The creation of the airline represented an investment of 60 million euros ($67.8 million) by FLYONE. It also created 135 jobs - an important figure for the country and a boost for the country's ambitious aviation industry.
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November 2021: FLYONE Armenia puts tickets on sale
As expected, within weeks of receiving its AOC, FLYONE Armenia has also started selling tickets for its first flights. The details below are obtained from the airline's booking engine.
FLYONE will have its maiden flight on 15th December when it will take off from its base in Yerevan (EVN) to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport (VKO). Tickets are on sale for 39 euros ($44) or 34 euros ($38) for FLYONE Club members.
Thus, the route launches will run as follows:
- 15th December: Yerevan - Moscow Vnukovo, twice daily
- 16th December: Yerevan - Tehran, twice weekly
- 17th December: Yerevan - Istanbul, three times weekly
- 17th December: Yerevan - Krasnodar, twice weekly
- 18th December: Yerevan - Lyon, twice weekly
- 19th December: Yerevan - Tel Aviv, twice weekly
- 20th December: Yerevan - Tbilisi, three times weekly
- 23rd December: Yerevan - Kutaisi, twice weekly
Flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft.
FLYONE has another subsidiary
FLYONE Armenia is not the first subsidiary of FLYONE. The airline also has a division in Romania, though this Romanian company is not an airline as it has not obtained an Air Operator's Certificate yet.
The Moldova-based FLYONE currently runs scheduled services to Russia, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, Turkey, and Israel.
The company made it into the news in 2019 when its Airbus A319 aircraft was cleared for take-off in Chișinău despite there being vehicles on the runway at that very moment in time. The incident was rated as serious.
The incident was not FLYONE's fault though. The Airbus A319 lined up and took off from the runway as it was cleared to do so, and the pilot only noticed the vehicles after the aircraft had completed a rotation in the air.
What do you think of FLYONE launching a division in Armenia? What do you think are the business prospects of FLYONE Armenia? Let us know in the comments below.