From now on, the air company Armenia will perform direct flights to Beirut, yesterday the first flight was made. The air company has already opened an office in Beirut, and the flight was carried out in cooperation with the company “Noubar Shakerian”. The opening of flight Yerevan-Beirut-Yerevan was a welcome event for 150 000 Armenians living in Beirut.
The director of “Aircompany Armenia” noted, that “ “Armenia” was working with its partner about 8 month to open a direct flight to Beirut. “ This is a regular flight, which will be operated once a week, and from July, four times in a week. This means that there is a need for this flight, and we will do our best to make it more comfortable and accessible”,-he added.
By the way, the peculiarity of the flight of “Aircompany Armenia” is an affordable ticket – about 320 USD for round trip, including 30kg of luggage and high-quality service in the airplane – hot meals, wine, beer both in business and economy classes. Flights are performed on high-quality Boeing 737-500 and 737-700 aircrafts, the flight duration is 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Minister of tourism of Lebanon Avetis Kitanyan noted, that a direct flight towards Beirut will further strengthen already strong relations between Lebanon and Armenia. It will also allow the inhabitants of Beirut visit Armenia more often. “Being a minister of Armenian nationality, my first task was to create tourist packages for Beirut, and include Armenia among eight important for tourism countries. I will try to implement other ideas also. I will try to positively adjust the businessmen of Lebanon to Armenia, so that they come and make investments. We are living in Lebanon, but we are Armenians, which commits us to close relations”. He also added, that according to statistics, more people come from Lebanon to Armenia, than in the opposite direction.
The minister noted, that a regular flight Yerevan-Beirut-Yerevan was also carried out in the Soviet Union, then the air company “Armavia” was flying in this direction, but the last time a direct flight was performed 7-8 years ago.
Representative of the Central Committee of Armenian Revolutionary Party of Lebanon noted, that a direct flight will provide an opportunity for cooperation not only in tourism, but also in culture and economy. “We highly appreciate this enterprise, which is not only inspiring, but also is developing the relations between both countries. Armenia and Lebanon have been cooperating for many years. These countries have much in common – culture, inhabitants, hospitality, economy, tourism. It is very important for us, that Armenians from Lebanon could fly to Armenia often, because the possibilities of both countries play an important role for the residents of both countries.
Armenian ambassador in Lebanon Samvel Mkrtchyan assured, that Lebanon and Armenia are connected by endless threads, and a direct flight to Beirut will become an additional thread, that will affect the development of relations between both countries. Another important point is, that, the airplane, named “Armenia” arrives at the airport of Beirut. “It would be desirable, that much more airplanes could fly under the name “Armenia, as it is an important factor – to represent republic of Armenia everywhere”.
“The Embassy of Lebanon contributed to the privilege of this flight. In addition to this, we are trying to promote the development of tourism, so that businessmen from Lebanon could come and invest in Armenia, as they have a lot of experience in tourism”,-the ambassador added. He also noted, that there is a huge interest in Armenians, living in Lebanon, to visit Armenia, that over the past year numerous groups visited Armenia.
According to Anna Chobanyan, the head of the Air Traffic Management Department at the Civil Aviation Administration, this is a very important flight, especially if we mean the number of Armenians, living in Lebanon. “Now they can be in Armenia in two hours, and they will listen to announcements in Armenian on the plane”,-she said.
Deputy director of Tourism Committee Mekhak Apresyan noted, that the opening of the direct flight Yerevan-Beirut-Yerevan has always been a priority, especially after 2013, when Armenia adopted the policy of open skies. Accessibility of Armenia to the world market has always been an important political issue. “The aim of opening a direct flight is the development of tourism and economy in Armenia, by developing a connection between Armenia and other countries”,-Apresyan said.