Vardanian is bluffing - Azerbaijani aviation expert I.Aleskerov

Baku/06.01.23/Turan: Unrecognised in Baku and de facto leader of the Karabakh separatists, Russian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan has proclaimed the task of opening air links between Khankendi and Yerevan, to avoid transporting goods and people by land through the environmental picket of the Lachin road. 

In an interview with Russia's "Kommersant", Vardanyan said: "...We need the airport to work. For this to happen it is essential to put pressure on international organizations and all countries to create a humanitarian corridor so that planes with humanitarian cargo can land at (Khankendi -ed.) airport. This is the only way not to depend on Azerbaijan. There should be an international agreement that will allow humanitarian planes to land in (Karabakh - ed.). This is an important condition to keep us as a community here. So that such situations do not happen again. The airport is fully functional".

As is known, the functioning of the civil airport in Khojaly is blocked by Baku's decision to actually veto the permission of the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) to fly from Khojaly (near Khankendi) airport.  Baku has declared its readiness to shoot down any aircraft that would violate the ban on flights into the Khojaly airport as set forth in the Azerbaijani law. Such a statement was made in 2011 by the director of the Azerbaijani State Civil Aviation Administration Arif Mammadov.

Can Vardanian succeed in launching air flights between Yerevan and Khankendi, using passenger and cargo planes, without Baku and ICAO permission?  Igor Aleskerov, former navigator-instructor of Azerbaijan's "Silk Way" airline, answered Turan's questions.

"Flights of passenger and cargo aircraft on the Yerevan-Khankendi route are impossible for both technical and international legal reasons. 

If Armenian carriers violate the ICAO ban and fly to Khankendi, Baku will demand taking measures against Armenian companies in line with the ICAO Charter. These companies may be deprived of the right to fly to other countries and be included in the so-called blacklist," the expert said.

Besides, the airport in Khojaly, currently occupied by the Russian peacekeeping contingent, does not have the technical capacity to receive and dispatch aircraft.

"It is impossible to use airports for their intended purpose without modern navigation, refuelling, repair and other operational services; without qualified staff. None of this exists in Karabakh; if there were specialists, they found jobs outside Karabakh.  

At one time, Russia installed some equipment in Khojaly, but it was not used and is likely to have fallen into disrepair. There have been several known cases of small commercial planes and helicopters from Yerevan that landed at this airfield. This is not sufficient to carry all cargo to Karabakh from Armenia. Even assuming that Vardanian succeeds in replacing the Lachin road with air service, the cost of transporting one kilogramme of cargo would increase hundreds of times. Besides, there are no civil or cargo planes in Yerevan for such flights," the expert said.

Even the availability of a concrete runway is not enough to fulfill Vardanian's wish. Armenians know that the nearby Azerbaijani air defense system can shoot down an illegal aircraft in Azerbaijani skies; Baku has officially warned of the possibility of such a development. Vardanian is just playing to his audience," stressed Igor Aleskerov.-0-

.