Armenia's national airline Armavia announced its intention on Tuesday to buy Airbus and Boeing airliners, after stating yesterday it had no intention of buying more Russian-built Superjet 100 medium-haul aircraft, for which it was launch customer.
“The Armavia management currently attending the Farnborough international air show in Great Britain met with representatives of the Airbus and Boeing companies on the air show’s first day. As a result, a decision was made to buy an Airbus and a Boeing plane,” Armavia said in a statement.
Armavia press secretary Nana Avetisova said on Monday the airline had no intention of buying a second Superjet 100 from Russia, saying both parties had failed to come to a compromise.
On May 10, an Armavia source told RIA Novosti the airline had been holding negotiations for two months on the purchase of a second Superjet 100 and was not going to suspend them, despite the crash of a Superjet 100 in Indonesia in May, killing all 45 people on board, mostly representatives of Indonesian airlines.
An investigation into the accident is still underway. Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, citing a source close to the investigation, recently claimed the aircraft crashed because of a dangerous maneuver performed by the pilot.
Flight recorder data suggested the plane's navigator and the aircraft's Terrain Awareness and Warning System had alerted the pilot to the approaching mountainside, but he carried on regardless, the paper said.
Leading Russian aviation figures investigating the crash, including Mikhail Pogosyan, the head of United Aircraft Corporation, Russia's aircraft holding company, have said the plane had experienced no technical problems and its flight was in full compliance with international rules.
Pogosyan told reporters in Yerevan in April 2012 Armavia’s first Superjet-100 had flown about 2,000 hours, demonstrating good performance for a new plane.
