Those airlines operating in Armenia that were previously unable to take advantage of the "air tax" privilege will now receive this opportunity. Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Armen Simonyan stated this during the second and final reading of the bill on making amendments and additions to the law on state tax at Tuesday’s session of the National Assembly of Armenia.

According to Simonyan, since 2019, a legislative provision has been in effect in Armenia, according to which airlines operating flights from the country to new destinations are exempted from paying the so-called "air tax." And as a result of the application of this rule, the number of flights from Armenia to various destinations had significantly increased.

But after the coronavirus pandemic, problems have emerged: local airlines have not been able to operate flights to new routes under their own codes. In fact, they continued their flights based on the agreements reached with the airport operators.

“As a result, these airlines were unable to use the [‘air tax’] privileges. Now, taking into account various circumstances, including the impossibility of operating new flights with their own codes, those carriers that did not use this preference at the time will [also] have the opportunity to submit the relevant applications within a year and finally use the privilege,” Simonyan explained.

In addition, another change will concern the period of application of this privilege, which is currently valid for three years and can be extended for another two years. As the deputy minister noted, some airlines have already exhausted this limit. In this regard, they will be given the opportunity to extend the validity of this legislative provision for another two years.