“168 Hours” wasn’t the only one waiting for airplane staff member Anaida Abelyan to return from Sochi yesterday, but also her son serving in the army who had come to Yerevan on a short vacation just to see his mother. But unfortunately, his mother didn’t make it to the homeland. She was one of the many victims of the plane crash in Sochi on May 3rd.
Days ago, before the incident, Anaida Abelyan’s sister gave us some information regarding the working methods of the staff at “Armavia” airlines. It has already been a while since the airline company has been postponing the salaries and the unfortunate “Air-Bus A-320” was not in good condition. During a telephone conversation with Abelyan, she mentioned the fact that “Armavia” was planning on selling some flights, but we all know that ticket prices at “Armavia” are the highest in Armenia. In fact, there are some cases when the tickets are sold at “mad” prices before the flight. Unfortunately, “168 Hours” wasn’t able to retrieve further information about this. Yesterday, almost all of us had the list of names and last names of the victims presented to us by the airline company (105 people). But the names of the airplane staff weren’t listed. Only they know the fear of coming to work at “Armavia” and sitting in the airplane. Only the people working at airline companies know about the problems with airplanes, which they have kept silent about perhaps with the fear of losing their jobs. When we tried to find out information about this from “Armavia”, the press department demanded the company to present any staff complaints with documents. But it’s quite possible that the staff ready to present the complaints is already below sea level…
According to all the official messages received in Armenia, the airplane was technically equipped and the reason for the accident was poor weather conditions. As they say, you can tell when someone is lying. One day the truth will be revealed. The question is- will the ones to blame really be punished for the 113 victims?
The Russian Federation has already brought up a criminal case at the prosecution.
Let’s recall that during the past couple of years, “Armavia” received the air exchanges belonging to the “International Armenian Airlines” company. Until “Armavia” doesn’t become a profitable company, it won’t be sold. This was what owner of the monopolist airline company Mikhail Baghdasarov said about a month ago. Sure, it won’t be sold, but won’t develop either if the company only thinks about getting profits and not making any investments. When someone is given too much power and he takes advantage of that, he neither benefits himself nor the people. In any case, one question remains unanswered: who decided that only one airline company can “take control” of the country’s civil aviation, do whatever it wants and not be held responsible?
A big concert with contemporary entertainers, official guests, priests, a cake for celebration…this is how “Armavia” has welcomed its airplanes. It has welcomed them, but hasn’t taken care of them. According to one of the presses, the plane that crashed had some problems in Paris a couple of months ago. The airline announced that the plane had some technical difficulties and the flight was postponed for a couple of hours. As a result, many passengers returned their tickets. One other time, in Amsterdam, the same plane once again went through technical difficulties and “Armavia” sent another plane for the passengers. But this last extra airplane came back empty. The plane was a remainder from the “Sibir” airline company. This plane is only allowed to fly to European countries under one condition: it has to be technically checked-up on once a month, but that check-up is only done in Europe. Now it’s clear as to why the staff wanted to solve this problem quickly. The French “Airbus” company won’t forget this. The specialists of the French company have left for Sochi and will do their best to prove that the accident was due to the fact that the plane hadn’t been taken care of properly. In fact, when the European Union published a “black” list of airline companies a month ago, “Armavia” wasn’t included. But after this accident, it’s obvious that “Armavia” will be in the center of attention.
In the morning of May 3, “Armavia” crossed all borders of cynicism. Just a couple of hours after the plane crash, at 11:17 a.m. citizens of Yerevan got to see another “Armavia” commercial on the first channel of Russia, which was calling on Armenians to fly with the “soaring wings of “Armavia”…
P.S. “She was waiting impatiently for this meeting, so that she could tell about the bad conditions of the plane and how they work at “Armavia”,” said the sister of A. Abelyan.