Armenia's sole government plane—the Airbus A319 ACJ—which flew from Yerevan to the Bulgarian capital Sofia on May 6 for maintenance, has returned to Armenia 5 months later, reports Hetq.am.
This Airbus A319 ACJ, manufactured in 1998 and a business class version of the regular Airbus A319, has been in service in Armenia since 2007, and it belongs to the Armenian state.
Taking the aircraft out of service for maintenance from time to time is a natural technical process in aviation. But it is difficult to recall when this state aircraft was absent from Armenia for such a long time due to technical reasons while being operated in the country.
This time, the plane underwent maintenance not in the Czech Republic as before, but in Bulgaria, since there are no appropriate conditions for such work in Armenia.
In the absence of this aircraft, high-ranking officials of Armenia,--primarily the prime minister and the president—use the services of private carriers, since the aforesaid Airbus A319 is the sole state aircraft of Armenia.