Aeroflot and Siberia Airlines have reduced the air ticket prices to Yerevan after the bankruptcy of Armavia, the national air carrier.
The website of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia says that the Yerevan-Moscow- Yerevan tickets of Aeroflot have dropped in price by 21.4% from 203,292 AMD (economy class ticket) as of 2 April 2013 to 159,860 AMD as of April 9. It is noteworthy that Aeroflot increased the prices right after the bankruptcy launch has been announced: as of 31 March 2013 the price was 187,158 AMD, which is by 14.6% higher than the current price. (Armavia announced the launch of bankruptcy and suspension of flights on 1 April 2013).
Siberia Airlines' prices of Yerevan-Moscow-Yerevan tickets have dropped from 15.7% to 187,993 AMD to 158,510 AMD.
The press service of the General Department of Civil Aviation was unable to explain the price reduction for ArmInfo's correspondent. The Armenian offices of Russian air companies also failed to comment on that.
To note, Armavia made flights to 28 destinations and had a sole right to some of the flights. The bankruptcy of the company was conditioned by the deteriorating financial condition of the company. In 2010 the company's loss totaled $7 mln. The data for 2011 have not been published, but specialists estimate Armavia's debt at over $50 mln. (As of 15 April 2013, the exchange rate of the Central Bank of Armenia was 417.40 AMD/1USD).