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2019 was unprecedented for the Armenian aviation as the aviation authorities managed to attract several European airlines to the country and offer people cheap flights to different parts of the world, Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan said in the parliament on Wednesday.

"The problems we're facing today have not emerged overnight and are not the result of the 2019 activity at all. However, it would be desirable to have avoided these problems. Anyways, we continue to be the legal successor of all the leaders of Armenia and we are responsible for any flaws in the country,” the minister said, referring to the recent ban on flights of Armenian airlines to EU member states.

His remarks came in response to a question by Bright Armenia opposition faction MP Gevorg Gorgisyan about whether the minister is satisfied with the recent activities of the Civil Aviation Committee.

“We have a task to create a local carrier in the near future; it refers to the local Armenian aviation. In the near future I will do everything possible for us to have our own aviation,” Papikyan said.

All Armenian carriers have been blacklisted by the European Commission, after more than six months of discussions with the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia over safety concerns relating to its oversight capability.