Former employees of Armavia air carrier resume protests to demand their wages payable

 The former employees of Armavia air carrier have resumed their actions of protest to demand their wages payable. First they gathered near Armavia's office, and then made their way to the Government building. No one from the Government approached Armavia's former employees and they went to the President's Palace and handed over their demands to the letters department.   

The company failed to pay 2-month wages and per diem money to nearly 65 airhostesses, 45 pilots and 45 members of the technical crew. Moreover, the company owes 1-2 mln AMD to each of the airhostesses and technical crew members and 6-10 mln AMD to the pilots.    

The company's former employees say that most of them have found a job abroad. In the meantime, they are quite decided to get their wages. They recall that Armavia's owner Mikhail Bagdasarov promised to pay them after selling the planes. Though he sold two planes two months ago, the employees have not received their salaries yet.

To recall, Armavia decided to suspend flights on 1 April 2013 and launch the bankruptcy procedure. To pay the company's debts, including the salary arrears, Armavia's owner Mikhail Bagdasarov decided to sell the planes. According to the official website of the company, Armavia's fleet consists of 8 planes, including CRJ, Boeing and Airbus.

On 22 May 2013 Armenian Finance Minister David Sargsyan said that the Armenian State Revenue Committee laid an action against Armavia, the national air carrier of Armenia, for levying the so-called "air tax". The information on the 17 bln AMD action was published on May 23.  

In the meantime, Andranik Shkheyan, representative of Armenia International Airports CJSC, said that Armavia owes them approximately 5.536 mln USD.