Armenia’s main international airport and national airline confirmed yesterday that they have settled a financial dispute that threatened to cause political problems. Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport last week delayed several flights by Armavia for what it called a failure to pay outstanding debts for airport ground services. Armavia executives denied any wrongdoing and said the Argentine owners of the airport had drastically raised service fees. They claimed that the tariffs were already much higher than those charged by major airports in Russia and western Europe. The airport chief executive, Marcelo Vende, responded by accusing the airline of spreading “disinformation.”
The two sides announced that they signed a compromise agreement brokered by the Armenian government’s Civil Aviation Department. Both sides refused to disclose details of the deal. “All issues have been resolved,” Armavia’s Russian-Armenian owner, Mikhail Bagdasarov, said. “I’m not going to tell you how because it’s a commercial deal. Both sides are satisfied.” We understand that the airport agreed to reschedule part payment of Armavia’s debt.