YEREVAN. – The Russian airlines will not allow Armenia’s aviation business to develop.

Former head of the Armenian government-affiliated General Department of Civil Aviation, Shahen Petrosyan, stated the aforementioned at a pres conference on Saturday.

“They [i.e. the Russian airlines] simply apply dumping on Russian flights, especially the Yerevan-Moscow flight,” Petrosyan added. “That’s how they took Air Armenia out, and that’s how they will push new Armenia Airline out. They choked, and they will choke [competition] from the start.”

He stated that the low-cost Russian Pobeda Airlines, which is entering Armenia’s aviation sector, will change nothing in terms of ticket prices.

“It is the subsidiary company of the very same Aeroflot [i.e. the flag carrier and largest airline of Russia]; they took it, [and] named it low-cost,” Petrosyan stressed. “Now, they will wait until the competitors are eliminated, then they will return to the old [and higher ticket] prices.”