Our dear colleagues and customer, Atlantis European Airways, yesterday performed a flight from Rome Fiumicino International Airport (FCO) to bring back Armenians back to its country.
This brave mission started from Armenian government in order to bring back its stranded citizens in one of the COVID-19 coronavirus epicenters, Italy. As we know, Italy has the highest cases of coronavirus infections in Europe with the current number over 20.000 and the whole country is in the lockdown. Italy shut its border and flights were cancelled, therefore a lot of foreigners left stranded in Italy. However, Armenia decided to bring back Armenians to Yerevan and the airline “Atlantis European Airways” was the one to do this task. Atlantis arrived to Italy over the weekend with its crew. According to the Armenian Embassy in Italy, at 18:30 Roman time from Fiumicino airport, a charter flight was made from Rome to Yerevan for Armenian citizens who expressed a desire to return to their homeland.
The flight was free for all passengers since the Armenian government, Atlantis European Airways and Zvartnots International Airport covered all financial expenses.
Natalia Pogosyan, flight safety and quality control manager of the airline, said before the flight: “I want to emphasize the highly professional approach of our management to this issue, since the flight will not be quite ordinary. Pilots must bring to Yerevan our fellow citizens from the country where the coronavirus is raging. To ensure the safety of the crew, high-quality special protective suits were purchased, which are used by the world’s leading airlines. At the same time, protective masks and gloves will be issued for passengers before entering the aircraft, since despite ventilation and air filtration, this is still an enclosed space. Our task is to ensure the safety of our fellow citizens as much as possible. All persons during the flight will remain in masks and gloves to avoid unwanted contact with potentially infected or incubation passengers, she wrote. “We are not leaving our own!”.
Natalia also praised its crew: “Although our passengers are unlikely to remember the names of the flight crew, nevertheless I want to name those who provided this flight: the captain Vardan Sargsyan, the co-pilot Karen Sargsyan, technical director Ishkhan Adamyan, the head of the Cabin Crew Service Amalia Avetisyan, the cabin crew Hayk Ayvazyan and Satenik Harutyunyan. I am proud of you, my dear colleagues and friends! “.
It is worth noting that the crew voluntarily decided to fly to a country unstable for medical reasons where the coronavirus is raging. On arrival to Yerevan on the night of March 16, they also set off with the passengers for two weeks in self-isolation.
Full news in Russian: https://novostink.net/photoreports/280383-armyanskaya-aviakompaniya-missiya-vypolnima.html?fbclid=IwAR2Q-lZORRhEaW0KyihUDhij1BP7gtGrOQUZ0oP4f4Ut3l78Dd3SjpYywwk
