Armavia goes bust

Armenian flag carrier Armavia has stopped flying.

This is latest of a series of airline bankruptcies in the Caucasian country: before Armavia it was Armenian Airlines (2003) and Armenian International Airways (2005) that went into liquidation. 

Being a flag carrier with a small home market is never easy but I guess Armavia's misfortunes in recent years didn't help, like the almost simulatenous loss of two aircraft in two separate incidents in May 2006.

The loss of Armavia seriously reduces Armenia's air connectivity, no small matter if you consider that the country already has severly limited overland communications due to ongoing conflicts with two of is neighbours.

As a curiosity, Armavia was the launch carrier for the Sukhoi Superjet and the first airline to operate this aircraft type in regular service, although it ended up returning its single Superjet due to reliability concerns.