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Romania’s Tarom airline has halted flights to and from Armenia due to financial problems facing the company, Chair of Armenia's Civil Aviation Committee Tatevik Revazyan told a discussion in the National Assembly on Thursday.

Her remarks came in response to MP Arman Babajanyan’s question about whether the airline stopped its services in the country due to uneven competition with Ryanair and Wizz Air low-cost airlines as stated by a Tarom airline representative.

Dismissing the claims, Revazyan said the airline has also halted its services in Georgia. She said in recent months the Romanian carrier has replaced 6 directors. The Armenian aviation authorities established a direct contact with Tarom and found out that the person who made such a statement had no right to act on behalf of the company, Revazyan stressed. Summing up, the civil aviation chief, however, did not rule out that the factor of the competition could also have affected Tarom airline’s decision.

The MPs expressed concern that according to some reports the Austrian and French airlines also intend to leave the Armenian air market. Tatevik Revazyan denied those allegations, but admitted that the tax levied from every air ticket sold for airlines other than Ryanair and Wizz Air has created unequal competition conditions.