Government of Armenia has rejected the Bill on Aviation Code drafted by lawmakers Hrant Bagratyan and Khachatur Kokobelyan.
Head of the Chief Department of Civil Aviation Sergey Avetisyan said the Bill looks to regulate all the types of civil aviation activity, the frameworks and powers of the competent bodies, and regulations ensuring aviation service. Avetisyan said the Cabinet rejected the Bill, as the field is regulated by the Law on Aviation and by the bylaws ensuring implementation of the above law. Besides, Avetisyan said, the Bill runs contrary to the requirements of the legislative field and international documents and standards on civil aviation.
Earlier, Dmitry Atbashyan, the first head of the Civil Aviation Department (1991-1992), said the International Civil Aviation Organization had elaborated a draft air code for the country.
According to Deputy Head of the Aviation Subcommittee of the Armenian Public Council Isabella Muradyan the reason of the current mess in the civil aviation sphere is lack of Air Code. She says Armenia is the only country in the CIS to have no Air Code. The Law On Aviation is insufficient for regulation of the aviation sector. Muradyan thinks it inadmissible that the civil aviation development program for 2025 is elaborated by the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Chief Civil Aviation Department is responsible for implementation of the given program.
The International Civil Aviation Organization was formed in 1947 under the auspices of the United Nations, and it established Flight Information Regions (FIRs) for controlling air traffic and making airport identification simple and clear.
Code selections in North America were based on existing radio station identifiers. For example, radio stations in Canada were already starting with "C", so it seemed logical to begin Canadian airport identifiers with Cxxx. The United States had many pre-existing airports with established mnemonic codes. Their ICAO codes were formed simply by prepending a K to the existing codes, as half the radio station identifiers in the US began with K. Most ICAO codes outside the US and Canada have a stronger geographical structure.