Armenian International Airways was a privately owned airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 operating international passenger

Passenger

A passenger is a term broadly used to describe any person who travels in a vehicle, but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination....

 flights based from Zvartnots International Airport

Zvartnots International Airport

Zvartnots International Airport is located near Zvartnots, west of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. The airport was built in 1961. It is now the busiest airport in Armenia and the Caucasus. The draftsmen of the airport included architects M. Khachikyan, A. Tarkhanyan, J. Sheqhlyan, L....

 in Yerevan

Yerevan

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...

, Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

.

History

Armenian International Airways was jointly established on July 12, 2002, by Armenian businessmen Gagik Tsarukian

Gagik Tsarukian

Gagik Kolyai Tsarukyan ,, also known by his nickname Dodi Gago is an Armenian politician and a wealthy businessman. He is seen as the most influential of Armenia's government-connected "oligarchs" and key business partner of Kocharyan owning over a dozen big businesses and living in a very large...

, Hrair Hakobian, and Levon Baghdasarian. AIA initially intended to lease three Airbus aircraft by 2003 for flights to Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. On January 1, 2005, the company merged with Armavia

Armavia

Air Company "Armavia" is an airline with its head office on the grounds of Zvartnots International Airport in Zvartnots, Armenia, near Yerevan. It operates international passenger services from Yerevan to destinations in Europe and Asia...

.

Routes

AIA operated scheduled flights from Yerevan to Western Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, notably many former Armenian Airlines

Armenian Airlines

Armenian Airlines was the state-owned national airline of Armenia.- History :Armenian Airlines was established shortly after independence in 1991 from Aeroflot's Armenia directorate, and was the sole carrier in Armenia until 2002, when private companies Armenian International Airways and Armavia...

 routes.

Fleet

AIA operated one lease

Lease

A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

d Airbus A320-200. This aircraft was destroyed in a firehttp://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2006/05/05/206437/pictures-probe-begins-into-sabena-technics-hangar-fire.html at Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport is an international airport northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates...

on 5 May 2006, along with one of Armavia's own A320s.

External links

• Armenian International Airways (inactive link)