On 29 June, the EU Council announced that it would sign an agreement with Armenia to open the air transport market, offering new opportunities for both consumers and operators.

Besides Armenia, the EU Council announced that it would sign similar agreements with Ukraine, Tunisia, and Qatar. “The Council is now ready to sign four important aviation agreements that will improve market access for airlines and enhance connectivity and freedom of movement for citizens. At the same time, they will ensure the highest level of safety and security and provide for a level playing field. The three neighbourhood agreements will remove market restrictions in relation to the EU’s neighbouring countries and associate these countries with the EU’s internal aviation market, as they will adopt EU aviation standards and implement EU aviation rules,” read the EU statement.

“The agreement with Qatar will open the market equally with all 27 member states, upgrading the rules and standards that currently exist for flights between Qatar and the EU. This is the first such agreement between the EU and a Gulf country. All four agreements contain robust environmental, social and fair competition clauses with strong enforcement mechanisms to avoid any distortions of competition or other abuses,” it added. The agreements are expected to be signed by autumn 2021.

Armenia and the EU officially started negotiations on a Common Aviation Area agreement in April 2017. The EU Delegation in Yerevan said at the time that it will enable airlines to operate Armenia-EU routes “without any limitations.” Armenia’s former government lifted virtually all restrictions for European and other foreign carriers in 2013 when it liberalised the domestic aviation market. On 2 June 2020, the European Commission banned all seven airlines registered in Armenia from carrying out regular flights to EU member states, saying that they do not meet international safety standards. In its statement, the EU emphasised that the inadequate supervision by the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia for many years and the implementation of incomplete certification functions were the reasons to impose the ban (Caucasus Watch reported).