Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Dec 4 2007
ANONYMOUS PEOPLE FINANCE PURCHASE OF PLANE FOR ARMENIAN LEADER
People who wish to remain anonymous financed the purchase of a new
aircraft for the Armenian president. That their names remain unknown
gives grounds for suspicions that in return they may have received
some economic benefits, a major Armenian daily reports. The following
is the text of Vahagn Hovakimyan report by Armenian newspaper
Haykakan Zhamanak on 4 December headlined "New aircraft purchased";
subheadings have been inserted editorially:
The press services of the Armenian president spread information about
the purchase of a new aircraft for the president’s service yesterday.
During the last months of staying in office, [President] Robert
Kocharyan will fly abroad an Airbus A-319, manufactured in 1998.
According to the official publication, the aircraft was purchased for
45m dollars, of which 15m have already been paid. This amount,
according to the president’s press service was paid by some
philanthropists, who wanted their names to remain anonymous. A loan
to be repaid over 10 years has been secured to pay the remaining 30m
dollars.
The aircraft has so far flown nearly 3,700 flight hours. This is a
rather small figure an Airbus A-319 and therefore the plane can be
considered fresh and little-used.
Issues with older aircraft
Now let us describe the president’s old aircraft, TU-134, which was
produced in 1977 and this year reached its 30th anniversary. First it
was a so-called passenger airplane, which was later used by the
president. TU-134 was made in the USSR and was supposed to carry 34
passengers. This trademark aircraft has the maximum speed of 850-900
km per hour, maximum takeoff weight 47.5 t, of a little more than 8 t
are reserved for commercial payload. With a certain quality of
equipment a TU-134 can fly without landing at most 2,000-3,000 km.
The Armenian press has sometimes featured reports about the
presidential aircraft occasionally encountering problems connected
with permissions to enter and landing in Europe. The reason is that
starting back in 2000 European countries strictly banned the landing
of such old aircraft in their airports, because of the excessive
level of noise and environmental damage. According to unverified
sources, during every visit to Europe Robert Kocharyan had to pay a
fine, a handsome sum of money for not complying with European
standards of aircraft operation. In such cases the fines constitute
more than 10,000 euros for every take-off and landing. It is typical
that issues related to using TU-134 are also mentioned in the release
the presidential press service.
Airbus A-319 specifications
The serial production of the president’s new Airbus A-319 type of
aircraft started in 1992. The average specifications for Airbus A-319
are the following: the average flight speed is 900 kmh, maximum
takeoff weight 70-77 t, depending on which engine is installed in a
given aircraft. Airbus A-319 can fly without landing up to 6,000 km.
However, what makes it attractive is that the model was originally
designed for representation aims. The aircraft purchased for the
Armenian president is one of those: it was originally designed and
furnished as a representative aircraft. Certainly it is now kept in
secret by whom and in what country it was operated previously.
A-319 of the representation modification can fly without landing
nearly 12,000 km and can carry up to 20 t. It can seat at most 50
passengers. Specifically, the Armenian president’s aircraft is
envisaged for 34 passengers. In contrast with TU-134, which has a
crew of four people , A-319 is operated by two pilots. Aboard it has
a furnished conference room, a bedroom, a gym and a lavatory. In
other words, these aircraft actually resemble a flying apartment.
Uncertainty breeds suspicions
The Armenian president’s aircraft will be operated by the Armavia air
company. incidentally, the fact that the source of the 15m dollars
paid for the aircraft is not named in the media gives grounds for
speculation. The point is that here we deal with the fact of the
purchase of a piece of equipment for the state’s number one person,
and for which the funds were paid not from the state budget, but from
some individuals’ pockets. This all would seem less suspicious,
should the payers’ names were published. In that case Armenian
society would have an opportunity to draw a conclusion. In
particular, in case of publishing these philanthropists’ names it
would be clear, why they have decided to make such a gift to Armenia.
In other words, the confidentiality of the sources of the funds
generates suspicions that possibly the payers were allowed to get
some kind of reimbursement for acquiring monopoly in a sector in
Armenia or for undertake activity in some field. In brief, generous
philanthropy of this kind can be actually motivated by different
reasons, and in this case it is not clear which of them is real. We
repeat ourselves, the most important is the fact that the Armenian
president’s aircraft was paid for not by the Armenian government out
of the state budget funds, but by some individuals, from their own
pockets.
Translated