The Qatar Airways flight to Los Angeles-Yerevan carrying humanitarian aid to Armenia scheduled for October 15 will not take place, for which the airline did not give a good reason, the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee informs.
The humanitarian aid was sent by the Armenian-American community to civilians affected by the Artsakh-Azerbaijani war.
Qatar Airways informed the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia about the cancellation of the flight on October 14. The plane was supposed to pass through Turkish airspace, but Turkey is obstructing the humanitarian cargo to Armenia.
“The organization of a new flight route through other countries, such as the Russian Federation or Georgia, is a matter of hours, so the airline must find other ways to transport humanitarian aid. Information from reliable sources at this time suggests that Qatar Airways will not be able to transport the cargo,” Chair of the Civil Aviation Committee Tatevik Revazyan said.
“We also have grounds to claim that Turkey deliberately closed the air route. This is not the first time that Turkey has obstructed cargo transportation to Armenia. Even before the war, the country began to create obstacles, requiring airlines to provide a detailed list of cargo as it passed through its airspace. Although the provision of airspace is a sovereign right of each country, according to international practice, data are required only for dangerous goods in order to respond properly in an emergency (Chicago Convention, Article 5),” Tatevik Revazyan said, adding that the cargo had already passed the inspection stage.
The Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia has applied to the EUROCONTROL, an organization for aviation security, regarding the incident.
These days, several cargo shipments have been made to Armenia from the USA, France and Russia. Cargo transportation is mainly carried out in cooperation with the Civil Aviation Committee and Armenian air carriers. Airlines do this on a non-profit basis (without profit).
