Air tickets price rise ungrounded, users say
16.08.2017,
18:57
Prompted by angry comments in social networks about the ungrounded rise of air tickets price during the high season, ARKA news agency tried to find out the reasons behind the price hike.
YEREVAN, August 16. /ARKA/. Prompted by angry comments in social networks about the ungrounded rise of air tickets price during the high season, ARKA news agency tried to find out the reasons behind the price hike.
Many Diaspora Armenians who arrive in their homeland country for summer vacations, have to pay twice or even thrice the price for the return ticket. The rise has affected the most popular destinations for Armenians - the Russian cities.
Some Facebook subscribers say the cost of an air ticket, sold by the same airline, for example, to Russian Mineralniye Vody, rose from 5,000 rubles (40,000 drams or 71.3 euros) in early summer to 12,000 rubles (96,000 drams or 171.1 euros) in August. The cost of the Yerevan-Moscow air ticket in August surged to 160,000-200 thousand drams, whereas in early summer it was significantly lower.
Many subscribers accuse the airlines of intentionally raising ticket prices given the high demand. People claim that there is no real competition and demand that the government intervene.
August in Armenia, as throughout the world, is the peak holiday season, and therefore the demand for air tickets sharply increases. A similar rise in air ticket prices happens also at the end of the year, when many Armenian labor migrants return home to spend the New Year holidays with their families.
Satenik Hovhanisyan, a press secretary for the Civil Aviation Department, denied allegations of collusion, saying the rise is prompted largely by high demand. She said when the summer season ends the situation will stabilize and cheaper tickets will become available again.
The cheapest airline ticket offered by Armenia airline is worth the equivalent of 49 euros, however, it should be booked 40 days before the flight date and besides it is not subject to return or change of the flight date. -0-
Many Diaspora Armenians who arrive in their homeland country for summer vacations, have to pay twice or even thrice the price for the return ticket. The rise has affected the most popular destinations for Armenians - the Russian cities.
Some Facebook subscribers say the cost of an air ticket, sold by the same airline, for example, to Russian Mineralniye Vody, rose from 5,000 rubles (40,000 drams or 71.3 euros) in early summer to 12,000 rubles (96,000 drams or 171.1 euros) in August. The cost of the Yerevan-Moscow air ticket in August surged to 160,000-200 thousand drams, whereas in early summer it was significantly lower.
Many subscribers accuse the airlines of intentionally raising ticket prices given the high demand. People claim that there is no real competition and demand that the government intervene.
August in Armenia, as throughout the world, is the peak holiday season, and therefore the demand for air tickets sharply increases. A similar rise in air ticket prices happens also at the end of the year, when many Armenian labor migrants return home to spend the New Year holidays with their families.
Satenik Hovhanisyan, a press secretary for the Civil Aviation Department, denied allegations of collusion, saying the rise is prompted largely by high demand. She said when the summer season ends the situation will stabilize and cheaper tickets will become available again.
The cheapest airline ticket offered by Armenia airline is worth the equivalent of 49 euros, however, it should be booked 40 days before the flight date and besides it is not subject to return or change of the flight date. -0-
